Prior to the transfer deadline closing in England, Manchester City acquired the services of Félix Correia from Sporting CP.
A few weeks later, they decided to send him on loan to AZ Alkmaar in the Eredivisie in order for him to get some regular football and continue his impressive development.
The initial deal was for a year, but the Dutch side have the option to extend it for an extra season if they so wish.
However, there appears to be more to it than that, as AZ’s technical director Max Huiberts revealed to Voetbal International on Thursday.
He said: “We have now made an agreement with Manchester City allowing us to partly become the owner of Correia, without us determining where his future lies. Maybe that will later lead to further cooperation with City”.
Huiberts was explaining AZ had been approached by many bigger sides to create a partnership, but the director stated they preferred to ‘continue to train our players ourselves’, as it helped them on the pitch, but was ‘also more attractive financially’ as ‘you don’t have to share the proceeds with anyone during a transfer’.
It seems they were ready to make an exception for Correia, since there is a chance for them to fill up their bank account as a reward for helping develop the forward over the next 12 (or 24) months.
Maybe that ‘agreement’ to become part-owners only gets activated when the loan extension is triggered? We’ll have to wait and see to find out.
