So the real reason behind Barry Fry’s bizarre if slightly overinflated comments in the press about Emmanuel Fernandez sale have been revealed. It is in fact a lot more down to earth than one thinks. While Fry is technically doing Rangers a favour, it is self serving too. Why is Barry Fry encouraging high bid valuations of Emmanuel Fernandez? Because there is a big sell on clause in there. Peterborough very wisely insisted on a sell on clause, whose percentage we are not yet aware. We are indeed told that there is a sell on clause for Emmanuel Fernandez. Fry is doing his absolute utmost to inflate that value so that Peterborough get a very big chunk of change.
Sell on clause motivation
It is nothing more than pure economics. Fry is a canny operator, he knows what he is doing. He wants as big a chunk of change for Peterborough as possible. More importantly, for that to actually happen requires a sale. Fernandez, of course, has not been exactly spectacular at Rangers. There is a lot of hype around him, simply because he has scored five goals. That is not a normal number for a defender to score.
Comparison with Tavernier
The same interest, of course, had been around James Tavernier. He also used to score a lot of goals and get a lot of assists. He was once hyped in a similar way. The age counted against him and his ability as a defender was questionable. Frankly, the same applies to Fernandez. The Barry Fry driven media hype over him is trying to encourage a big-money sale.
Profit and precedent
There are few Rangers fans who would be sad to see Fernandez being sold at a big profit. He has by no means been a spectacular success in Govan. At the same time, money speaks. Money is what it is all about and trying to get that big chunk of change. Fry insisted on a sell on clause, which is a very common attribute in football these days. If you can sell to Rangers for £5M, you have already done a pretty good job with what was a £300K value player in the first place.
If Rangers can then sell him on for a bigger chunk of change, it is Posh who will stand to benefit as well. We will remember, of course, the Hamza Igamane sell on clause. Far Rabat did the same with the Moroccan striker. They inserted a 30% sell on clause. It was a big whack of cash. So even though Rangers sold for £11M, we only actually received about £6M to £7M.
Consequently, Fry insisted on trying to do the same thing with Emmanuel Fernandez sale. Just like Igamane, Fernandez has had his moments. He has not exactly shone as a consistent and outstanding player. For some reason, it seems to be these cult younger players who get into the headlines. They then get the big valuations on their head. Fry is adding to that. It could coin Rangers a fair bag of cash at the end of it. Peterborough stand to benefit as well, big time.