Why Celtic won’t bank full €20m transfer fee from Como for Nicolas Kuhn due to ‘FIFA solidarity’ rule

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Nicolas Kuhn’s Celtic transfer exit is all but sealed.

After being linked with a return to RB Leipzig, Italian side Como stepped in and quickly started negotiating with Celtic over a fee for Kuhn.

The talks appeared to be dragging on, but a deal was eventually struck as reported by Fabrizio Romano on Thursday afternoon.

Sky Germany then provided more details, claiming the final fee will be €20m and that Kuhn will sign a four-year contract with the Serie A outfit.

But Kuhn’s former club Ajax are due a slice of the cake. Here’s why.

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Ajax will benefit from €20m Kuhn transfer

As per Kicker’s report, under FIFA’s solidarity mechanism, each time a player moves to another club internationally for a transfer fee, five percent of the gross fee is withheld by the buyer and then distributed to the clubs who trained the player when he was aged between 12 and 23.

Kuhn was registered with Ajax between January 2018 and January 2020, which covers two full training development seasons.

Due to the FIFA rule, that means Ajax will be due around 1 percent of the €20m Como are due to pay Celtic. That’s around £172.5k in total.

Celtic’s return for Kuhn won’t be significantly impacted as a result, but Ajax will be pleased they are receiving a tidy bonus.

Where Kuhn will rank among Celtic’s record sales

With the transfer fee a total of roughly £17.2m, Kuhn will become one of Celtic’s most expensive sales of all time.

Matt O’Riley holds the record after his £26m switch to Brighton last summer, while Jota and Kieran Tierney were sold for £25m each.

Moussa Dembele left Celtic for Olympique Lyonnais for around £20m in 2018, which ranks him fourth on the all-time list.

So Kuhn will sit in fifth place when the Como deal is completed.