Peterborough United’s part in Ben White’s rocketing transfer valuation and why Watford wanted to loan Britt Assombalonga rather than sell him to Posh

White spent time on loan at Posh in the second half of the 2018-19 season before helping Leeds United to the Championship title last season.

Leeds were prepared to pay over £20 million to sign the 22 year-old on a permanent basis, but White made his Premier League debut for Brighton in last night’s (September 14) 3-1 defeat at home to Chelsea,

“Us taking Ben is an example of a loan move helping a Premier League youngster,” MacAnthony stated. “It showed the value of sending these players out on loan without asking for silly money in loan fees, wage payments and other things.

“We still paid out £100k or so all in for Ben, but Brighton were good to deal with and helped us out with his wages. They are now set to benefit from Ben’s time with us and of course with Leeds.

“It’s long been an irritation to me that Premier League clubs want lower division clubs to fork out loads of money to give their players experience. I’ve long argued there should be a maximum fee.

“We’ve been asked to pay the agents of loan players and pay the players themselves a promotion bonus in the past.”

MacAnthony will usually resist taking strikers on loan.

“I’ve had Championship clubs asking me to take their strikers on loan because they know how well we do with attacking players and they want us to showcase their talents while they get all the future benefit from an increased valuation,” MacAnthony added on his popular ‘Hard Truth’ podcast.

“Watford wanted us to take Britt Assombalonga on loan, but I refused and ended up making a ridiculous offer to buy him which was accepted.

“Luckily it worked out for us. Britt was excellent and we sold him on for a profit.”