Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes has effectively confirmed reports that Piero Hincapie’s loan to Arsenal is expected to turn into a permanent deal this summer.
Though there have been plenty of media reports on the subject, there hasn’t been much in the way of official confirmation that Piero Hincapie’s loan from Bayer Leverkusen will become a permanent transfer this summer.
That changed in the build-up to Wednesday’s Champions League clash between Leverkusen and Arsenal, with the German club’s sporting director Simon Rolfes effectively confirming that the loan will lead to a permanent move.
Speaking about how it would be special for Kai Havertz to return to Leverkusen, Rolfes added that it would be the same for Hincapie.
“For Piero [Hincapie] too, of course,” Rolfes said. “He’s still officially our player and is only on loan at the moment, but it will come to the [permanent] transfer, and I think for Piero it’s just as special too.”
Hincapie’s permanent move to Arsenal was reportedly pre-agreed last summer, with personal terms already in place on a five-year contract. The structure of the deal as an initial loan was purely for accounting purposes.
With both Hincapie’s loan to Arsenal and Jakub Kiwior‘s loan to FC Porto, the Gunners came up with a creative way to ensure that all three clubs could feel confident that the deals would go through, without including formal obligations in the contracts that would require the transfers to be accounted for this season.
Given Arsenal, Porto, and Bayer Leverkusen all wanted to account for the deals next summer, a normal obligation wasn’t suitable.
Instead, they agreed that both clubs involved in each deal would hold options to make the deal permanent. Meaning that if Arsenal activate their option for Hincapie, Leverkusen can’t stop the deal going through, and if Porto activate their option for Kiwior, Arsenal can’t stop that, either.
Technically, this leaves open the possibility that neither club will activate the option. That uncertainty means it can’t be accounted for in this year’s financial statements.
But, in reality, given how well Hincapie has adapted, Arsenal will still want to activate the option to tie him down. Rolfes has now confirmed he expects that to happen.