Chairman confirms hidden Newcastle United transfer boost as January deal 'a possibility'

Newcastle United stand to make a sizeable profit should Ivan Toney leave Brentford this month.

The 27-year-old is back in football after serving an eight-month ban for breaching betting rules. He'll likely feature for the Bees when they host Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday evening (kick-off 5:30pm).

Despite having only just returned, Toney's future has been the subject of intense speculation. Arsenal and Chelsea are understood to be interested but Brentford, as jokingly suggested by manager Thomas Frank, have slapped a £100million price tag on his head.

But should a move materialise then Newcastle are set to be boosted by a large sum of money with Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony confirming the exact sell-on terms.

United bought Toney from Northampton Town in 2015 before offloading him to The Posh for just over £1million three years later.

Speaking on his Hard Truth Podcast, MacAnthony explained: “Newcastle didn’t want to sell Ivan Toney to us, they wanted him to move on loan. But we don’t loan strikers so we invited Newcastle too 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 £350,000 spread over three years.

"We have received £10million 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."

Toney himself has not ruled out a January exit. He told Sky Sports News: "You can never predict when is the right time to move elsewhere, but I think it's obvious I want to play for a top club.

"Everybody wants to play for a top club, that is fighting for titles. Whether it's this January that is the right time for a club to come in and pay the right money, who knows?

"But my main focus is to do what I do on the pitch, and let the background work take care of itself."