Blues chairman and CEO Mark Ashton is keeping his cards close to his chest regarding clauses in the deal which saw Liam Delap join the club from Manchester City for an initial £15 million last summer.
Delap, 22, has impressed in his first season in the Premier League, netting 10 goals so far, and has caught the eye of numerous clubs in the top flight as well as, according to reports, Juventus in Italy.
Chelsea and Manchester United are the clubs to have shown greatest interest, with the England U21 international’s departure from Town appearing all but certain should the Blues go down, despite having a contract which runs to the summer of 2029.
At the time of the move from City it was widely reported that the deal included a buy-back clause with that figure understood to be set at £40 million, although it’s believed the Premier League champions are not currently looking at bringing Delap back to the Etihad. It’s probable other so-far undisclosed clauses also exist.
"What I would say is that what's been reported is never quite fact,” Ashton told the EADT when quizzed on the buy-back clause reports. "It would be remiss of me to speak about any individual player, you know I'm going to say that.
"What I can say is that in January there were was interest in a number of our players from a number of Premier League clubs.
"But the ownership were great. It was ‘you don't have to sell’. So look, we're not an easy club to buy from, because we have such strong ownership.
"Obviously there is always natural point in time when a player has to move. That's the cycle of life, it's the cycle of football. But we are very, very, very well protected with all of that.”
Ashton wouldn’t confirm whether City’s buy-back clause exists: "No. Look, it would be remiss of me to do that. I would actually be in breach of contract for talking in any kind of detail.
"All I would say to the fans is that hopefully an element of trust has been built with us since we took over. We know what we're doing and we're well, well protected.”
Ashton insists that players will only depart Town on the club’s own terms this summer: "Hell, yes.”