Hull City were the true winners from £15m Swansea City agreement - View | OneFootball

Hull City sold Sam Clucas to Swansea City for £15million in 2017, a deal which proved to be excellent business

The end of the 2016/17 season saw heartbreak for Hull City as they were relegated from the Premier League at the first attempt, and inevitably, player exits followed.

The likes of Harry Maguire, Andrew Robertson and Ahmed Elmohamady all left, along with midfielder Sam Clucas, who had been a mainstay for the Tigers during their Premier League campaign.

The former Chesterfield man had started 36 of the Tigers' 38 games in the top-flight during the 2016/17 season and despite being unable to help them avoid the drop, Premier League side Swansea decided to sign him, forking out a huge £15million fee.

Given the fact that Hull had signed him for a reported fee of just over £1million from Chesterfield just two years prior, receiving £15 million looked like excellent business for the club from East Yorkshire, and it's fair to say that they were definitely the winners of his move to south Wales.

Despite the fact that he had impressed at Hull in the Premier League, the £15 million price tag did seem somewhat steep after just one season of top-flight football, and Clucas struggled to reach the levels of the previous season.

It was a tumultuous campaign for Swansea, and they struggled for results, with Clucas being used in different positions on a regular basis, which probably didn't help in terms of him trying to find form and consistency.

He was used in a range of positions from right-back to left-wing, with stints in his preferred position of midfield too, and you could tell that the chopping and changing of positions, as well as Swansea's struggles meant it was hard for him to play to his best ability.

In total, he played 29 Premier League games for Swansea, scoring just three times, with all three coming against Arsenal. He scored once in a 2-1 defeat at the Emirates, before bagging a brace as Swansea beat the Gunners at the Liberty Stadium, but that was as good as it got for the Lincoln-born midfielder.

The Swans were relegated at the end of the 2017/18 season, his second consecutive relegation from the Premier League, and he left the club after just one season, joining Stoke City for a fee of £6 million, meaning Swansea made a loss of £9 million in just one season.

Hull's decision to sell Clucas when his price was highest now looks like a really shrewd move and the fact he was worth £9 million less the following summer shows that it was the right call to sell.

In hindsight, Hull played a blinder by selling Clucas to Swansea for £15 million and given his performances for the Swans, the Tigers certainly had the better deal.

Sam Clucas is without a club seven years on from his £15 million move

Now 34, Clucas is without a club after leaving Rotherham United following their relegation from the Championship at the end of the 2023/24 season, quite some downfall after being sold for £15 million just seven years ago.

After leaving the Swans in 2018, Clucas spent five seasons with Stoke City, where he made 143 appearances, more than he did for any other club, but after struggling with injuries, he was released in the summer of 2023 and signed a one-year deal to stay in the Championship with Rotherham.

The midfielder made 33 appearances last season but was unable to prevent the Millers from being relegated, and he now finds himself without a club, a difficult position to be in, especially as we're now into October and squads look pretty settled.

Given the fact that Clucas was relegated to League One last season and is now without a club, it adds further evidence that Hull did well to sell him for £15 million when they could. It's continued to be a good example of how sometimes in football it can be a good thing to sell players when their stock is at its highest.

It remains to be seen what the future holds for Clucas, but after playing in the Premier League and having six consecutive seasons in the Championship, you'd have thought he could certainly do a job for clubs in the EFL, and he may still be waiting for the right offer to come in.

Clucas won't remember his time at Swansea fondly, but he'll always be well thought of at Hull thanks to his performances for the Tigers and the big money he made them when he departed.