Mike Ashley set to cash in on another big sell-on clause as club name huge price tag for ex-Mag

Blackburn chairman Steve Waggot has revealed that Newcastle United included a ‘big’ sell-on clause when they sold Adam Armstrong to Rovers back in 2018.

Considering he’s placed a “£25-£30m” price tag on the former Mag’s head, it looks like Mike Ashley will be quids in should the 23-year-old seal a big money move anytime soon, with us recently benefiting from a ‘30% sell-on clause’ when Ivan Toney completed a £10m move from Peterborough to Brentford.

Armstrong had huge potential while at NUFC but never really managed to take his chance when put in the side, spending most of his time with the senior squad out on loan in the EFL.

However, the England U20 World Cup winner has been in outstanding form for Rovers since the turn of the year and is currently leading the pack as the Championship top goalscorer so far this season, with 11 goals in just 10 games.

His form looks destined to take him to the Premier League sooner rather than later, and Waggot has spoken to Lancs Live about the former Toon prospect.

Here is what he said in full:

“We got a good price (£1.75m), albeit with a big sell-on, but he does what it says on the tin.

“When he’s at it, he’s a prolific goalscorer and I would think if any offers came in, it will be for Armstrong.

“Goalscorers keep you in jobs, don’t they? They keep managers in jobs, they keep the fans happy and Blackburn had another decent Geordie striker when they won the Premier League way back, didn’t they?

“If he can get anywhere near him he’d have had a decent career.

“I think first we’d need to get an official offer from the club and if say for example Leeds United phoned us up in late December, early January saying we have £25m-£30m for Adam Armstrong then I would say to the owners here’s an offer we need to consider.

“But the key is, who is coming in for Adam Armstrong if you sell him? How are you going to use the £30m?

“Yes you could use some towards operational losses but how are you going to build out from losing a player of that magnitude?”

While £30m may seem inflated, it is not beyond the realms of possibility for a top flight side to pay that much for a Championship goalscorer. Take Ollie Watkins’ summer move to Aston Villa, for example.

We would likely not benefit in any way from a potential Armstrong sale as the funds would go straight into Mike Ashley’s back pocket. A struggling high street retail store has more chance of seeing that cash than our first team playing squad.

I hope we get to see him test himself in the Premier League soon. Scoring the goals he has been while playing for a mid table Championship side shouldn’t be scoffed at, and he would make an excellent addition to any bottom half team in the top division.

It would be great to have hime back, but I can’t see many goalscorer’s itching to play in our current system.

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One thought on “Mike Ashley set to cash in on another big sell-on clause as club name huge price tag for ex-Mag

  1. As the owner of the club the money doesn’t go ” straight into Mike Ashley’s back pocket”. It goes into the club accounts and spent how Ashley decides. There is a massive difference. The club is a separate legal entity, all of its assets belong to the business rather than its owner. This means that you cannot just take money from your business like you would your personal business account.

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