Sell-On Clauses could pay off for Wycombe

With rumours circulating that both Portsmouth and Newcastle United are interested in signing former Wycombe Wanderers defender Mike Williamson from Watford, the Chairboys could be set for another cash windfall.


In June ex-Wanderers player Roger Johnson moved from Cardiff City to Birmingham City for a fee which could ultimately rise to £5 million.

Cardiff paid £275,000 to Wycombe in 2006, and with a 15% sell-on fee negotiated on the difference between the two amounts, the Chairboys could eventually be due around £700,000.


Mike Williamson only left Adams Park in January of this year to join Watford for a fee reportedly between £100,000 and £150,000, but allegedly with a 25% sell-on clause built in to the deal.

At the time Wycombe MD Steve Hayes said ‘Don’t look at the fee now, look at what it might be in the future,’

With various sources now reporting that Portsmouth have bid anything between £1.5 million and £5.5 million for Williamson, the Chairboys could be in for another healthy pay-off.

For example: If Williamson was sold by Wycombe for £100,000 and Watford sell him on for £2 million, the Chairboys will reportedly receive 25% of the difference which equates to £475.000.


The question would then be whether Wycombe’s new owner Steve Hayes will release any of this summer’s income for manager Peter Taylor to inject some quality into a side which currently lies 22nd in League One after spending five years trying to escape the clutches of League Two.


Speaking to the Bucks Free Press after the Chairboys were promoted in May, Hayes said:

‘The most important thing is we don’t want to go up and just make up the numbers. We want to compete. We’ve seen what Peterborough have done and we’ve seen what MK Dons have done and we are going to be working pretty hard during the summer.’