Newcastle United could be set to land a major transfer windfall this month with former player Ivan Toney potentially finding himself at the centre of a £100m tug of war between Arsenal and Chelsea.
The Brentford striker is soon to return from an eight month ban for betting offences and is set to resume his role as the club’s leading man this month. But it remains to be seen whether he will still be at the Gtech Community Stadium come the end of January, with a number of top clubs on the lookout for a goalscorer.
If Toney does make a move this winter, he won’t come cheap. That could be music to the ears of Eddie Howe and Newcastle who would, according to some reports, be due a hefty sell-on clause thanks to the terms of his sale to Peterborough United in 2018. The Magpies would welcome any help they can get, with FFP restrictions set to once again limit the moves United can make in the January window.
Toney’s previous club Peterborough will be due 30% of any fee Brentford receive for the England international, according to Sky Sports, with Newcastle then due 30% of that. That effectively means nearly a tenth of his transfer fee will end up in Newcastle’s bank account.
That’s not a fee to be sniffed at given that Brentford head coach Thomas Frank has previously valued Toney at £100m. Speaking in the summer, the Danish coach said: “£100m plus?… What would you pay for a striker that guarantees you 20-plus goals? And this is 20 goals for a mid-table club. What can he do in a bigger club?”
That would leave Newcastle with an extra £9m worth of wiggle room when it comes to FFP, which could prove crucial following a cautious approach in the early days of the January window. Up to now, Howe has played down the chances of a busy window on Tyneside, admitting that transfer plans remain ‘unclear’.
Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony, meanwhile, poured cold water on the claims, calling it ‘complete misinformation’. “That even had me double checking the contract just now and the sell on clause,” he tweeted. “Nobody pays £10million for a L1 signing & pays 30% sell on… nobody.”
Leave a Reply