Everton may have inadvertently affected the Championship promotion race through the acquisition of Joshua King from Bournemouth on deadline day.
The Toffees secured 29-year-old poacher for a ‘nominal fee’ in the early hours of Tuesday morning, bolstering Carlo Ancelotti’s forward options. However, with Bournemouth and Blackburn both in the hunt for Premier League promotion this season, the proceeds from the King deal may have given a leg-up to Rovers.
King was a young product of Blackburn when he joined Bournemouth for a nominal tribunal-determined fee in 2015 – and Rovers had a sell-on fee inserted in the region of 20-25% on any profit from a future sale from the Cherries.
With one source indicating that the Toffees may pay up to £5m for King, that leaves Blackburn set to collect a surprise windfall in the region of £600,000, based on a projected profit of roughly £2.5m for Bournemouth.
Rovers CEO Steve Waggott suggested that any financial injection would most likely to be redistributed into the daily expenditure of the club as opposed to direct transfer funds, but the resources collected nonetheless boost Blackburn’s prospect.
Blackburn made a number of late acquisitions in January, including Harry Pickering from Crewe Alexandra, who signed on for a fee of slightly more than £600,000.
If the proceeds from King’s move to Goodison Park effectively funded a transfer which could prove pivotal to Rovers’ promotion hopes, there is every chance that Everton may have disrupted a relative balance of power in the Championship.
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The Toffees seem to be the latest beneficiaries of bargain deals for King.
It is certainly a long shot, but there could be a wry smile on the faces of Evertonians if they end up facing Blackburn as opposed to Bournemouth next season!
