Marcus Maddison made “unreasonable” wage demands as Charlton deal broke down

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony has described Marcus Maddison’s personal demands as “unreasonable” in negotiations with Charlton Athletic.

The Addicks were interested in the playmaker, who joined Hull City on loan before last Friday’s transfer deadline.

MacAnthony says that Charlton agreed a fee of £1.5million for Maddison with further payments of £500,000 if he played 50 games and the SE7 outfit won promotion.

But the Posh owner reckons the player was never keen on a switch to South London and that he had to persuade him to even met with Addicks manager Lee Bowyer and director of football Steve Gallen.

MacAnthony said: “It all went brilliant [the meeting] and he was actually excited about it. At that stage we thought we had a deal.

“It dragged on for a few days and I spoke to the Charlton chairman and said: ‘Have you got it done?’. Matt [Southall] was quite sure they would get a deal done with Marcus but to no avail. Marcus wouldn’t go there unless a certain figure was hit. I know what his target was and it was unreasonable, in my opinion for a player stepping up from League One.

“They made him a good deal. I think they probably could’ve done better but I think it was good for them. The reality is he didn’t go and it dragged on and dragged on.

“Charlton came back a week later and they wanted to redo our deal so they could maybe offer him more. But I’m a firm believer when you agree a deal, you agree a deal.”

MacAnthony said Addicks executive chairman Southall had initially asked about signing Ivan Toney.

“I  told him to forget Ivan – there’s no way he’s going to Charlton. You can’t afford him. He wanted a figure and he threw figures around and I said no. The only player that I will be willing to do business on is Marcus Maddison.”