Premiership Clubs Have Closed A Transfer Loophole That Has Caused Some Controversy

Premiership clubs have closed a transfer loophole player contracts due to recent transfer activities.

The decision to make the changes comes in the wake of Jonny May’s controversial move from Gloucester to Premiership rivals Leicester. The England winger was allowed to move due to a clause in his contract that allowed him to move on while under contract, for a fixed compensation fee.

12 Premiership clubs voted unanimously to put and end to this and close the loophole on Tuesday. Prior to the change, the regulation in the Premiership code of conduct enabled a player to be bought out of his contract by another club for a set transfer fee.

The fee was a one-off payment of one year’s salary of what the player was being offered by the club trying to purchase him, or what he was currently being paid – whichever was higher.

According to BBC Sport, the change now means the two clubs must negotiate a fee for transfer. The change has been put in place to protect smaller teams from losing their young talent on lower salaries being taken away for small fees.