West Ham celebrate £1.5m windfall

The West Ham board will be celebrating Middlesbrough’s return to the Premier League this weekend. Boro grabbed the second automatic promotion place in the Championship worth at least £170m after a 1-1 draw with Brighton on Saturday lunchtime. West Ham is believed to have written a £1.5m Premier League promotion bonus clause into the contract for their sale of Stewart Downing, which will now be activated.

Downing joined West Ham in 2013 and made 69 Premier League appearances for the Hammers. The Hammers sold Downing for a fee believed to be £5.5m plus the £1.5m promotion clause which will now take the total to £7m, he signed a four-year deal with Boro dropping his wages to £35,000 per week which he will double to £70,000 per week next season when he rejoins the Premier League.

Downing came on as a 63rd minute substitute. He has made 48 appearances this season for Boro, 44 in the league and 6 of them as substitute scoring three goals and making five assists.