Latics hit back over Tarky

JAMES TARKOWSKI . . . the defender finalised his move to Burnley on Monday.

ATHLETIC bosses have defended their decision to drop their sell-on clause for Burnley’s new centre-back James Tarkowski in return for an upfront payment.

Athletic have disputed some of the figures reported and stressed that in the past, sell-on clauses haven’t brought the club anything - as was the case for Oldham-trained Micah Richards’ move from Manchester City to Fiorentina in 2014. Athletic would have picked up 20 per cent of a transfer fee paid for Richards and at the time chairman Simon Corney was “gutted” by the situation.

Tarkowski joined Brentford from Athletic two years ago for an undisclosed fee thought to have topped £400,000 once the Bees went on to claim promotion to the Championship. The deal included a clause giving Athletic a cut of a future transfer fee.

It was revealed this week that Athletic cashed in the clause some time ago for what is thought to have been around £150,000 - far less than the club would have received had it waited for a slice of a transfer fee worth up to £6million.

Athletic’s confidentiality agreements preclude revealing the sums received for Tarkowski.

Athletic’s statement reads: “James Tarkowski is a product of our academy system and as such we are all thrilled and proud of his progression and believe with Burnley he has every chance of playing Premier League football. Everyone connected with our club should take great pride in his achievements to date.

“The details of commercial agreements are subject to confidentiality and speculation about fees, clauses and add-ons remains just that.

“We can confirm that our club has received a sizeable fee relating to the original transfer and further substantial payments relating to add-ons - and that some of the figures quoted in the media are inaccurate.”

Athletic’s hopes of remaining in league one next season were improved with Shrewsbury’s 2-1 home loss to Southend, leaving the Shrews on 29 points from 29 games - five clear of Athletic in 22nd, but after playing two games more.