Leeds United already closer to £12m jackpot after new Joel Piroe developments
Joel Piroe and West Ham United didn't have the best of starts to the Championship season.
Leeds finally sanctioned Piroe's exit from Elland Road towards the end of August, as he moved to the London Stadium on an initial loan.
As part of that, there is a conditional obligation to buy involved, based on promotion to the Premier League.
Nuno Espirito Santo has rotated Piroe early, but after failing to win any of their three opening games, there were worries.
Thankfully, things have changed.
West Ham have won their last three, including the 3-2 victory at Bolton on Tuesday which puts them top of the Championship.
How much are Leeds due from Joel Piroe?
The 49ers and Daniel Farke will be keeping a very close eye on his progress, given the risk they took within this deal.
Relegated clubs aren't guaranteed to earn instant promotion back to the Premier League, as Leeds know themselves.
It's a tight Championship season already, with no runaway clubs early on.
If West Ham are promoted, Leeds would earn up to £12million in total from the deal to sell Piroe.
Given they only spent just above £10m to sign him from Swansea, as well as three years of amortisation gone, that's serious profit.
Could Leeds earn even more from loanees?
After permanently getting rid of their deadwood earlier in the summer, late activity was all around loans again.
Piroe was joined by Largie Ramazani, Lucas Perri and Willy Gnonto, who all left temporarily with options to buy.
Ramazani has an obligation to buy based on appearances at Burnley, which could be worth up to £8.5m.
Perri's is worth around £10m at Torino, while Gnonto could bring in £18m if successful at Fiorentina, via the BBC.
If all four leave permanently next summer, it could bring in just under £50m for Leeds - that would be sensational business.
With Piroe already scoring twice and West Ham sitting top, the first £12m jackpot is looking positive for now.
Fans may have complained about the loans as the window closed, but given the business to get rid of big earners before, it still helped the net spend.
With the likes of James Trafford and Tarik Muharemovic already shining for the huge money spent to get them, deals like these loans could unlock the next star signings in LS11.