Brentford are preparing to pay out a further £1m to Peterborough with Ivan Toney expected to make his England debut tonight.
In the summer of 2020 it seemed like it was a battle between Celtic and Brentford to sign the striker who had scored 24 goals from 32 appearances in League One with the season ended in March as Lockdown kicked in.
Gavin Strachan moved from Peterborough to Celtic to replace Damien Duff and appeared to bring with him a recommendation to sign the former Newcastle forward.
Odsonne Edouard was Celtic’s first choice striker but expected to attract offers to leave with the less reliable duo of Leigh Griffiths and Patryk Klimala as back-up.
In an interview in April 2021 with The Sun Toney recalled the extent of Celtic’s interest:
I was actually very close. I went up there and spoke to everybody. I was actually at the training ground and looking around and all that so it got to those stages. But I just don’t think they were too keen on signing me. I guess it’s their miss now.
Peterborough were looking for a £6m fee for the striker, Brentford, then in the Championship were happy to pay that with today’s Daily Mail detailing 50% again in add-ons:
Peterborough United will receive a bonus payment of around £1million from Brentford if Ivan Toney makes his England debut in this week’s European Championship qualifiers against Italy and Ukraine.
The League One club sold Toney to Brentford for £6million three years ago, but also negotiated a series of lucrative performance-related add-ons, many of which have already been paid.
A bonus due for an England appearance will be one of the last to be triggered following Toney’s superb performances since joining Brentford.
The 27-year-old was called up to the England squad for the first time for last season’s UEFA Nations League games against Italy and Germany, but did not play, and was not selected by Gareth Southgate for the World Cup.
Peterborough have already received over £2.5m in add-ons as a result of Toney’s success at Brentford, and an England bonus would take the overall fee for him over £9m.
Brentford’s promotion from the Championship two years ago triggered a £1m bonus, with the club paying Peterborough the same amount again after they survived in the Premier League last season.
Peterborough also received smaller payments every time Toney made five Premier League appearances at his new club, although those extra fees were capped at 50 appearances.
Similar add-ons would be likely in a move to Celtic, probably linked to the hoops qualifying for the Champions League. With that level of detail Peterborough will probably have a cut of any transfer fee that Toney will attract.
There is however one significant issue with the striker facing an FA charge for admitting to making 262 football related bets.
With little competition to Harry Kane it seems that Toney missed out on a place in England’s World Cup squad because of that issue, in the last match before the World Cup break Toney scored twice at the Etihad as Brentford beat Manchester City.
With 59 goals taking Brentford into the EPL and looking safe for a third season the £9m fee for Toney had been money well spent.
Peter Lawwell and Neil Lennon switched their attention to Albian Ajeti who is on loan at Sturm Graz with his Celtic contract running until June 2024.
He could’ve made a fortune with his betting here as well….. Tav Pen anytime.