The reason for this is because Spain´s tax authorities can treat any funds transferred by Liverpool to Zubi (even if for a few hours) as income, and this would then be liable to 47% tax charge- so £51.5m could increase to £75.7m.
In reality, the buying and selling clubs agree on a payment of the transfer fee by instalments. The selling club, when the sale is made official, still often announce that the buyout clause has been activated.
My interpretation of Paul´s latest update is that Real and Liverpool have now reached agreement on the fee and it´s structure- and if/when the transaction goes ahead, Real will say that Zubi triggered the clause (to save face with their fans).
After the embarrassment of the Caicedo situation from a year ago, Liverpool wouldn´t have briefed Paul, Ornstein, etc. about this story last week if the player is not fully committed to joining the Reds.
This doesn´t mean the deal is done, but it looks to me like the last few days were spent negotiating the fee (as some reports had suggested), and agreement has been reached. Now it´s down to the PR spin to play out in the next few days.
Kilde Mo Chatra
“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”
Bill Shankly