Peterborough United chairman opens up on that Ivan Toney deal and making profits from big player sales

Posh sold Toney to Brentford two years later and they are set to cash in when the 27 year-old gets an expected big-money move, probably in the summer, but Newcastle will also benefit financially from that deal. According to MacAnthony, Northampton Town, who sold Toney to Newcastle in 2015, should also receive an additional payment if they have a sell-on clause from when they let a teenage forward leave.

On the latest edition of his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast, MacAnthony also went into detail on the money Posh have made from the sale of other star players, namely George Boyd and Dwight Gayle.

“Newcastle didn’t want to sell Ivan Toney to us, they wanted him to move on loan,” MacAnthony said. “But we don’t loan strikers so we invited Newcastle to share in Ivan’s future success with a sell-on fee.

"They agreed and they wanted 50% of any future transfer profit. That was never going to happen as we were paying a fee for Ivan as well, so we settled on 30%. We paid Newcastle a transfer fee of £350k spread over three years.

"We have received £10 million so far from Brentford and we will receive X amount – I’m not allowed to say the number – of any future profit and Newcastle will receive 30% of what we get from us. We earn money every time Ivan moves and so do Newcastle. That’s how these deals are structured and I’m all for it. It’s like a chain reaction and it’s the best thing.

"We sold George Boyd to Hull for £1.8 million with a sell-on and he they sold him on to Burnley we got another £300k.

"We earned a few hundred grand more when Crystal Palace sold Dwight Gayle to Newcastle. Dagenham would have earned well from that deal as well after selling Gayle to us.

"Northampton would probably have made seven figures from Ivan with a sell-on negotiated with Newcastle.”

Posh sold Gayle to Palace for a reported £6 million in 2013. Newcastle paid Palace a reported £10 million for Gayle three years later.

It was reported at the time that Hull paid a considerable loan fee for Boyd.

Toney is now free to resume his Brentford career after completing a lengthy ban for betting offences.

He’s been linked with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United during the current transfer window, but Brentford are unlikely to sell him until the summer as they are in a Premier League relegation battle.