Maidenhead United chairman Peter Griffin has attempted to set the record straight following news of the football club’s recent transfer windfall.
As has been reported extensively, Max Kilman’s former club stands to benefit from the defender’s transfer to West Ham by four million pounds. This is due to the Berkshire club inserting a sell-on clause into the deal which saw Kilman move from Maidenhead to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
It is believed the initial clause was 20%, meaning Maidenhead would receive eight million pounds from the £40m transfer which saw Kilman move from Wolves to West Ham.
It has since been reported that Wolves sought to re-negotiate that clause down to 10%, meaning the non-league club would receive the lesser amount of £4 million.
Following an intense period of speculation, Maidenhead chairman Griffin has made a public statement on the club’s website.
“I would like to congratulate former Maidenhead United player, Max Kilman, on completing his transfer from Wolves to West Ham and wish him every success for this exciting next stage of his career.
It is no great secret that when we sold Max to Wolves in 2018, a sell-on clause was included within the transfer agreement which the club will now benefit from over the coming few years.
Over recent days, there has been a lot of speculation regarding the sell-on clause and the amount of money the club will receive. As you would expect, commercial confidentiality prohibits me from providing specific details about the sell-on clause, however, we were engaged with various parties during the negotiation process for Max’s transfer. We reached a mutually agreeable position that all parties are satisfied with, and importantly, it is in the best interest of the club.
Ultimately, this is a fantastic outcome for the club which will benefit from one of the largest, if not the largest, transfer payments an English non-league club has ever received, which is something to celebrate. This is a testament to the hard work of Alan Devonshire and his coaching team, past and present, as well as our Academy program which every year is developing players who move into our first-team squad.
This is a momentous day for Maidenhead United FC, which gives us the opportunity to profoundly change the future of the club. A supporters’ meeting will be held in due course to give more details on how the cash injection will be used on and off the pitch.”
Thanks for this. I hadn’t seen it anywhere.
It is fantastic that they knew they had a good player on their hands and added the sell-on clause. It would’ve been great had they got the whole 20%.
No surprise greedy EPL owners would want to lower it.
As much as I think we’ve over paid, it’s great that a proper, grass roots, football club will benefit from the sell-on clause. They are the clubs that really matter. Not the puffed-up greedy EPL money making machine.
Can’t tell you how much I worshipped Alan Devonshire. It’s players like him who make me hold the mercenaries of today to the highest standards. Give me players like of Devo any day over the wasters we’ve bought over the years.