Southampton did a number of deals during the January transfer window.
Those included both incomings and outgoings. One of those to depart the club, was midfielder Carlos Alcaraz.
The Argentine had made the move to St Mary’s just 12 months earlier, joining from Racing Club in his home country.
However, he had struggled to settle on the south coast. As a result, he was allowed to leave Russell Martin‘s side at the start of this year.
That move saw the 21-year-old join Juventus on loan from Southampton, until the end of the season.
As part of that deal, the Italian giants have the option to buy the midfielder in the summer transfer window.
Now though, it appears the Saints could be in line for a windfall from that deal, even before then.
Cost of Carlos Alcaraz deal revealed
It seems as though Southampton were keen to have guarantees over Alcaraz’s playing time whle he is in Italy.
As well as a loan fee, the midfielder’s agent, Sebastian Lopez, has now revealed that there are penalties included, if the player is not involved in a certain amount of minutes.
Explaining the make-up of the deal, Lopez told AS:
“They had a loan of about €1.5m plus a penalty. Southampton were very keen that where he goes on loan there had to be a penalty if the player didn’t play.
“They looked for a clause where they tie in that the guy has to play. They created this penalty if the player plays less than 30% of the minutes, but it decreases to the point where the penalty is zero if he plays more than 60%.”
Since making the move from Southampton to Juventus, Alcaraz has made four appearances for the Serie A side.
However, his opportunities for the club have been restricted by injury in recent weeks.
Southampton will take an interest in Carlos Alcaraz loan
There are plenty of reasons for the Saints to take an interest in how Alcaraz fares during his time with Juventus.
It has previously been suggested that Juventus would be keen to make the midfielder’s move permanent, but not at the reported option to buy fee of £40million.
Southampton will therefore be interested to know how much they can demand for the 21-year-old once the window opens.
That in turn, could impact the funds they have available to invest in their own squad come the summer window.
Now though, it seems they could also be in line for a windfall before then, depending on how much Alcaraz plays between now and the end of the season.
Those funds could too be useful for Southampton. However, it does feel somewhat surprising Juventus agreed to this, given how he was not even playing all that regularly for the Saints before this move.
It will also be interesting to know just if and how his injury affects the terms of this clause, which could impact just how much Southampton make from this.