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Tottenham Hotspur defender Radu Dragusin will have to make 22 appearances for Fiorentina for the obligation to buy in his loan to trigger.
It emerged on Sunday that Fiorentina have an ‘agreement in principle’ with Tottenham to sign the Romania defender, who is expected to undergo his medical and seal the deal this week.
Dragusin has fallen out of favour in north London and is well down Tottenham’s centre-back pecking order, even heading into the Roberto De Zerbi era.
His stock remains high in Serie A, where he shone for Genoa, and a return to Italy has seemed like the most logical outcome for the defender this summer.
Fiorentina will pay Tottenham a loan fee of €1.5m to take Dragusin to Italy for the season, but a contract has also been agreed and an obligation to buy clause included.
The obligation to buy clause is set at a further €17.5m, but it will not automatically trigger.
According to Italian journalist Niccolo Santi, Dragusin’s obligation to buy clause ‘will trigger’ on his 22nd appearance for Fiorentina.
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The Romania international is set to earn a salary of €2.8m per year at Fiorentina, meaning much will be expected of him in Florence.
Dragusin did have options and he turned down a proposal from Turkish giants Fenerbahce in order to join Fiorentina.
Dragusin suffered a bad knee injury at Tottenham which disrupted his progress and though he has firmly shrugged that off, the 22 appearances clause ensures Fiorentina will not be forced to buy him if he does not feature on a regular basis.
The defender will want to get back on track with regular first team football at Fiorentina.
Fiorentina have former Tottenham sporting director Fabio Paratici directing their transfer business and his links with Spurs are sure to have smoothed the path towards an agreement.
Tottenham beat off competition from Bayern Munch and Napoli to sign Dragusin, but he has not lived up to high expectations in north London.