At the start of the transfer window, West Ham were strongly linked with a move for Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos though those rumours have since died down a touch.

However, with Eden Hazard all set to complete his €100m move from Chelsea to the Bernabeu imminently, that will take the Madrid giants spending to a massive €260m this summer and they need to start getting rid of their players to comply with Financial Fair Play regulations, which they are expected to as part of a big squad overhaul.

A box-to-box midfielder is on the agenda for Manuel Pellegrini in the transfer market and Ceballos fits that bill, also in age as well at just 22 and has seemingly been given the green light to depart Madrid this summer.  A move for Andre Gomes is likely to be unsuccessful for West Ham so they need to look elsewhere.

Madrid have been linked with moves for Hazard, Spurs' Christian Eriksen, Man Utd's Paul Pogba and Tanguy N'Dombele of Lyon this summer but after the expected arrival of Hazard, the fire sale can begin.

Because the Madrid giants need to get Ceballos off the books, the Hammers could pounce but the latest reports from Spain claim that Los Blancos want €40m, which is as near as dammit out of West Ham's price range despite Pellegrini has managing to shift Edimilson Fernandes and Lucas Perez for a combined £10.8m to add to his £30m initial budget.

Ceballos fits the age profile of the player Pellegrini and sporting director Mario Husillos are looking at to improve the Hammers squad. He also fits the bill for the transfer strategy the club is employing this summer, signing younger players on bigger transfer fees but on smaller wage packets over the course of their contract.

Not only could the Hammers secure Ceballos for a relatively small fee, they could potentially double their money on the 22-year-old in the future if they decide to sell.

Something Real Madrid like to do with their younger players when they sell them on is to include buy-back clauses in the deals so, if they have made a mistake in letting them go and that player performs well away from Spanish capital, they will have first refusal on bringing them back.

A recent example is when Madrid sold Mariano Diaz to Lyon in June 2017 for €8m, only to buy him back a year later for €23m after bagging 18 goals for the French side in one season.

It also happened with former Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata. Real activated their buy-back of €30m from Juventus, to whom they had sold Morata to for €20m two years previously. They also did it with right back Dani Carvajal when they sold him to Bayer Leverkusen before bringing him back for just £6.5m after one season in Germany.

Casemiro was a player Real Madrid used a buy-back clause on

More recently, the Madrid side purchased midfielder Casemiro from Sao Paulo before he was shipped out to Porto. Rafael Benitez, now in charge at Newcastle, triggered a £7.5m buy-back clause to bring the Brazilian back to the Bernabeu.

According to the laws, a buy-back right can be exercised by the selling club with effect from the first or second season after the one in which the transfer took place and are usually put in when the player is still at a young age but can't be guaranteed first team football - which is pretty much what is happening with Ceballos.

Obviously, the player has to agree to the buy-back clause as well. It also means that West Ham are more likely to be able to afford someone like Ceballos, rather than pay the full valuation of the player.

On the basis of someone like Diaz, West Ham could potentially double their money on Ceballos if Real did invoke a buy-back clause in his contract.

Buy-backs are very rarely seen in English football, though. Manchester City did want to have one put in when West Ham wanted Kelechi Iheanacho last summer before he joined Leicester and look how that turned out -  four goals in 51 appearances since he joined the Foxes.


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