Roque Mesa’s loan from Swansea City to Sevilla in January should have been a fairly straightforward operation for all involved, what with the player struggling for game time at the Liberty Stadium, but it ended up being anything but.
We covered the mess in detail during the final days of the transfer window, and because we got a headache doing so, we won’t summarise it, but simply just link the story here so you can make a cup of tea and sit through it if you haven’t already.
Eventually, the deal went through, and the Spanish midfielder left Swansea and returned to Sevilla, for whom he could feature in the Champions League on Wednesday against Manchester United.
On loan until the end of the season, Mesa’s deal was known to have an optional buy-out clause, with the amount thought to be around €10m, until Monday when Las Palmas’ president, bitter about the whole thing, revealed what it actually is, relayed by Mundo Deportivo.
According to Miguel Angel Ramirez, Sevilla will be able to make the Swansea midfielder’s move permanent for the measly sum of €7m, which is €5.5m less than what the Welsh club paid him for last summer.
However, since the clause isn’t compulsory, the La Liga side don’t have to trigger it, and there’s a chance (albeit very slim) that Mesa could return to Wales in the summer if he doesn’t impress.
That’s certainly what Miguel Angel Ramirez is hoping for, as he also revealed that Las Palmas would trigger their ‘first refusal option’ to try and bring him back to his former club.
We’re staying out of this mess, but we just thought you’d want to know where things stood in Spain.