To observe the meteoric rise of Jordan James at Leicester City is to witness a footballer operating in a state of sporting grace. He is, without a shadow of a hyperbole, the East Midlands club's undisputed Player of the Season.
To secure a permanent acquisition of the underrated midfield maestro for a reported £5 million is an absolute steal from Rennes - a heist of daylight proportions. In the hyper-inflated modern theatre of football commerce, a player of his supreme quality is easily worth ten times that modest sum.
​Yet, as whispers of an exit grow to a seeming crescendo, the romanticism of the terraces collides violently with the cold, clinical ledgers of financial reality. That tantalisingly low figure is merely the agreed threshold of the Foxes' option to buy: an isolated pact between the two institutions.
Is Jordan James slipping away from Leicester City's clutches?
To assume that this proposed transaction is a foregone conclusion is a grave folly. It is extraordinarily unlikely that the Welsh international pre-signed a single scrap of paper tying his future to the LE2 outfi. He remains under no obligation to pen a permanent contract whatsoever, it appears.
The true guillotine hanging over supporters' dreams of retaining the former Birmingham City starlet is, naturally, the looming spectre of demotion. Should the Foxes succumb to the League One trapdoor, the financial capacity required to instigate along with sustaining such a deal instantly disintegrates.
"For James, City have an option to buy the Welshman in his loan contract, but relegation would certainly prevent a deal from happening, and staying in the Championship may do so too."Jordan Blackwell, LCFC Live
Shorn of television revenue, the club would be paralysed by the brutal arithmetic of Profit and Sustainability guidelines, alongside a broader erosion of status. Third tier reality seemingly extinguishes any hope of securing James’s signature.
Legally, the option may survive. Practically, the chilling winds of financial constraint and the player's own understandable ambitions will ensure this fleeting, beautiful loan remains just that: temporary marvel. However, survival still paints an optimistic picture with the baller thriving on Filbert Way.