Article body analysed
Ivan Toney's move to Saudi Arabia will have one side feeling like they have won the lottery. Al Ahli have completed a £40million deal to sign the striker from Brentford with the England international agreeing a contract worth £50m to head to the Saudi Pro League. While both Toney and the Bees made substantial sums from the deal, Peterborough United haven't done badly themselves. The League One side are believed to be pocketing at least £4million from the deal as part of the transfer that took Toney from the Posh to Brentford back in the summer of 2020. Thomas Frank's side, who were in the Championship at the time, was worth around £10million with add-ons which included a clause that entitled them to a percentage of any transfer fee received for the player. Of course Peterborough have had to be patient for this pay day, with Toney being heavily linked with a move away for more than a season with Arsenal and Chelsea both linked. Peterborough's director of football, Barry Fry, appeared on talk SPORT's Sunday Edition with Shaun Custis and Henry Winter back in January and revealed just how much the deal would mean to them. “I phone Brentford every day of the week, " Fry joked. "They’re fed up of me ringing them. “It will be like winning the lottery if they sell Ivan. " Pressed on how much Peterborough would stand to make if Toney was sold for £100million - a figure he was previously valued at - Fry said: “That would be a lot of money. We would definitely get over £10million. ” With Toney now moving on to Saudi Arabia it means that Peterborough's deal to sign the striker from Newcastle in the summer of 2018 for a reported fee of £650, 000 was incredibly shrewd business. Explaining how Toney's move to Peterborough came about, Fry said: "I saw Ivan play for Northampton as a 17-year-old against our under-18s, and he got in the team very early. “We tried to buy him when he went to Newcastle, but there was no way he was going to Peterborough over Newcastle. “We watched his progress and he got loaned out to about eight different clubs and we eventually enticed him to the club. “He needed a shoulder around him and somewhere to belong. Steve Evans, Darragh (Mac Anthony) and myself convinced him this was the place. “He came to us knocking on the door saying he wanted to go to Barnsley and to Luton. We turned him down, then we had seven bids from Brentford and left us to become a millionaire. " If Toney was a millionaire when he left to join Brentford, he'll now be living like a king as a prepares to start a new life in Saudi with a lucrative new deal to boot. This service is provided on talk SPORT Ltd's Terms of Use in accordance with our Privacy Policy.