Peterborough United owner Darragh MacAnthony says reported Derby County target Marcus Maddison’s wage demands blocked a permanent January transfer to both Charlton Athletic and Birmingham City, Hull Daily Mail report.
Maddison was linked with several Championship clubs in January (TEAMtalk).
Derby, Birmingham City, Charlton Athletic and Hull City were all cited as suitors. His situation was unique as his contract ran out with Posh in the summer.
Maddison had a £2.5 million release clause. Peterborough, however, were seemingly happy to let him go cheaper and accepted a £1.5 million bid from Charlton.
MacAnthony now shares how his wage demands blocked a move before he tried to do the same with Hull City before eventually joining the Tigers on deadline day.
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We got Marcus into the club to speak to him and again he was very blasé. He said ‘No, I don’t want to go there [Hull City] unless they can hit this amount’. Hull couldn’t hit that amount, they don’t pay that kind of wages like the rest of us. We said to Marcus ‘This is mad, are you going to sit there on your arse doing nothing or go and play Championship football?’ Myself and the gaffer made the decision at the time that he’s not going to play for us again. We’d moved on.
Marcus Maddison attracted plenty of Championship interest:
Charlton and Birmingham were unable to meet Maddison’s wage demands (Hull Daily Mail).
Peterborough were in a tricky spot. They were facing the prospect of losing him for free in the summer before Hull agreed to sign him on a six-month loan.
MacAnthony explains the deal further:
We rang up Hull and said this is what we’re going to do. We want a six-figure loan fee, if you sign him in the summer we want another six-figure fee and we want a sell-on. It was one way of us getting some money. It wasn’t the £1.5m, going up to £2m, we’d agreed with Charlton but I managed to save something.
The 26-year-old was one of Peterborough’s best players this season. In 19 League One starts, he scored nine goals and posted a further six assists.
Derby have missed that kind of threat in the final third this season.
The Rams are among the lowest scorers in the Championship. With 35 goals in 30 games, only Wigan Athletic and Middlesbrough have scored fewer.
Maddison could turn out to be a success at Championship level. But if his wage demands were out of touch, perhaps Derby were wise not to seek a late deal.
Also see: Video: Reported Derby target involved in hilarious on-pitch blooper
Also see: Reported £13m Derby target suggests move to league rivals was set weeks ago