Peterborough United chief hails ‘miracle’ Toney transfer deal, confirms Newcastle United’s ‘massive’ sell-on clause and believes Posh could still make millions from the player in the future

Ivan Toney in action. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.

MacAnthony insists he never wavered from his initial asking price for the 24 year-old despite attempts from other clubs to hijack the deal using threats and scare stories.

MacAnthony praised Brentford for their behaviour in what was an eight-month quest to sign Toney. He also confirmed Newcastle had a ‘massive’ sell-on clause, believed to be 30% of a £9.7 million profit. Posh signed Toney from Newcastle for a reported £300k in August, 2018.

But MacAnthony also believes Posh could make another £3-4 million through the add ons that form part of the deal with Brentford.

Darragh MacAnthony. Photo: Getty Images.

“The deal with Brentford was actually done seven weeks ago,” MacAnthony revealed in the latest edition of his popular ‘Hard Truth’ podcast. “It did go quiet for a while and a big Scottish club became interested, but while I was at St George’s Park with the first team last week Brentford contacted me again and said the deal was back on and they eventually got it done.

“Brentford came to watch him Ivan play against Wycombe last January and they wanted to sign him then. I said no.

“They came back when they were actually still playing in the Championship play-offs and this time we agreed. They did suggest a pandemic discount, but I told them the price stayed the same and to be fair to Brentford they conducted themselves brilliantly throughout the process.

“I had made a promise last August to Ivan’s father as Championship clubs were interested in him then that we would keep him for another season, he would win the Golden Boot and help us get promoted, and then we would sell him.

“It’s very tough when a player say on £3k a week knows he can triple his wages by moving and I am happy to have helped Ivan’s career. He’ll become a multi-millionaire.

“We have inserted some fantastic add ons into the deal and they are very achievable. We could easily make a few more millions down the line and in fact I’d say that’s guaranteed.

“Other clubs did show an interest and I reckon we could have made more money if we’d waited longer in the window, but I was of the mindset that we don’t need a circus surrounding the player. We didn’t need the distraction of ‘will he leave or not’ when we are heading into a very important season for the club.

“One club did wind me up by offering half of what Brentford offered and when I said no they said they’d just wait until January, sign him on a pre-contract and we wouldn’t get a penny for him.

“That’s not the way to negotiate with me. I was not born yesterday. I’ve done over £60 million of transfer business in my 15 years at Posh. I know what I’m doing and I knew what I had in Ivan.

“Ultimately we have pulled off close to a miracle in getting such a fee for a player in the middle of a pandemic.

“Newcastle do have a massive sell on which is fine. That’s how we do business in football. The big add ons are why we got Ivan so cheap in the first place. I’m happy to help Steve Bruce’s transfer budget this summer.

“Newcastle were great to deal with two years ago when we signed Ivan and they were great to deal with again in the last few weeks.

“We actually still owed them £100k on the original deal as we were paying in instalments!”