Former Orange County SC standout Korede Osundina joins Portuguese top flight club Casa Pia A.C. on Friday night from Feyenoord after impressing on loan in the Eerste Divisie with FC Dordrecht. | Photo courtesy Casa Pia A.C.
On Friday night, at the club’s headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal, Casa Pia A.C. introduced United States youth international Korede Osundina as its newest signing.
About 5,660 miles away at Orange County SC’s headquarters in Irvine, California, it was reason to celebrate.
The reason? Seventeen months after Osundina’s move from OCSC to historic Dutch club Feyenoord, the 20-year-old was making the next step in his professional journey, joining a club currently in sixth position in Portugal’s top flight.
In turn, that meant a financial boost for OCSC, which as part of its initial transfer agreement with Feyenoord had included a sell-on clause that would recoup additional funds from his next move.
“Korede’s transfer from Feyenoord to Casa Pia A.C. marks a historic milestone for the club, becoming the first-ever secondary transfer in our history,” said Peter Nugent, OCSC President of Soccer Operations & General Manager, in a club statement. “This moment highlights our unwavering commitment to a forward-thinking development model that not only nurtures talent but also creates clear pathways for young players to build successful professional careers.”
CREATING A STRUCTURE: For clubs at all levels of the soccer ecosystem, sell-on clauses have become a notable means to generate revenue. In addition to receiving an up-front fee from the club acquiring a player like Osundina, add-ons such as performance bonuses and sell-on clauses add to the value a club can get out of a deal.
SECONDARY MARKET: These clauses came into the spotlight last week as Chicago Fire FC received a notable windfall from Jhon Jader Duran’s transfer from Aston Villa to Al-Nassr SC of the Saudi Premier League. Per GiveMeSport.com’s Tom Bogert, the add-ons received by the Fire made the overall deal the largest in Major League Soccer history, surpassing the $30 million mark.
GROWING TREND: Those sorts of sums sit at the high end of the market, but Osundina’s transfer is the latest for a former USL Championship star that has netted a player’s former club a return on its investment. Last summer’s moves by Fidel Barajas from Real Salt Lake to LigaMX’s Chivas de Guadalajara and Jonathan Gomez from Real Sociedad to Greek Super League club PAOK Thessaloniki brought money back into the Charleston Battery and Louisville City FC respectively.
As more players from the USL Championship make the move to higher levels – such as in the recent deal that sent 2024 USL Championship Young Player of the Year Elijah Wynder to the LA Galaxy from Louisville City FC for a domestic record transfer fee – the importance of ensuring full value can be realized from a deal for a USL Championship club is front and center.
“A key point of emphasis from the USL’s front office is to ensure that our clubs are being well advised and structuring transfer agreements that will benefit them in the short-term and long-term,” said Oliver Wyss, USL Head of Global Football Development & Sporting Director. “Through the secondary deals that are now taking place, there is tangible evidence of the financial reward clubs can achieve in the transfer market, bringing in revenue that can be reinvested and provide long-term stability.”
The next example of this sort of move and a USL Championship club reaping a reward appears to be on the horizon. Real Salt Lake’s acquisition of former OCSC center back Kobi Henry on loan from Stade de Reims with an option to acquire the center back via transfer at a later date could see more money return to OCSC should the latter deal be completed.
As more transfer agreements are struck by USL Championship and League One clubs, the secondary move is more often than not going to be the one that seriously moves the financial needle.