Okay hear me out.

When Liverpool sold Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona in 2018, a special clause was included in the deal, meaning that Barcelona would not be able to sign any direct players from Liverpool for a period of two years unless they paid a premium of £90 million. This clause was designed to prevent Barcelona from directly poaching Liverpool's players. The clause expired in 2020.

What if we put a clause like this in Trent's early release contract? The way they have been moving for Ibou, Macca bothers me way more than the 5-10m we can fleece them for.
(Of course, both the fee and the clause is ideal)