Money due to Newcastle as Blackburn/Southampton agree Armstrong deal

Around £5.3m could be due to Newcastle United after Blackburn Rovers and Southampton agreed a £15m deal for striker Adam Armstrong.

This is due to a 40% sell-on clause on Blackburn’s profit held by the Mapgies, as confirmed by reports from the Sun and the Telegraph. Blackburn signed Armstrong for around £1.7m back in 2018 and have made £13.3m of profit by selling to Saints.

Blackburn are therefore set to keep around £9-10m of Saints’ outlay and perhaps would have had much more had Armstrong not been in the final year of his contract. Those at St Mary’s looking to have struck a very good deal given that negotiations rumbled on for a long time.

Saints look to have also beaten Crystal Palace and Watford to the signing of Armstrong after his 29-goal season in 2020/21 and will be hoping to benefit from his goalscoring abilities in the Premier League.

Have Southampton played this situation just right?

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Given that Blackburn were said to have put a £20-25m price tag on Adam Armstrong’s head in this summer window, Saints look to have got a very good player for a very respectable price.

They have benefitted from the player having one year left on his Blackburn deal but have stolen in ahead of others to get a talent who looks ready to test himself in the top-flight.

Looking back at how Saints got to this point though is intriguing.

Their interest was first reported back in early June but it soon became clear that Blackburn were going to be tough to crack in negotiations. Other clubs were said to have joined the race as those negotiations rolled on.

It seemed as though a deal was in the balance at one stage though and talks were said to have stalled. Perhaps this waiting game by Saints has worked in their favour though with Blackburn keen to add to their own squad before the end of the transfer window.

Armstrong is set to have some significant options to battle with for a starting berth with Che Adams, Theo Walcott, Nathan Tella already at the club and Chelsea youngster Armando Broja joining on a season-long loan.