Rovers may well have handed a financial windfall late on deadline as Josh King secured his move to Everton - but knowing quite how much is far from an exact science.

The move brought to an end a five-and-a-half year association for the Norway international with Bournemouth who he signed for from Rovers in the summer of 2015.

And it’s that move from Rovers that could see them pocket a six-figure sum for his move, but it's complicated.

Here's the background…

King turned down the offer of a new contract at Ewood Park in 2015, two-and-a-half years after signing from Manchester United following an initial loan spell.

Given Rovers had offered him a new contract, and he was only 23, they were due a fee for his services when he would eventually leave the club.

Bournemouth announced his signing in May 2015, and two months later both clubs put out statements saying they had agreed a fee for which they were both happy with, without the need for a tribunal.

Had it gone to a tribunal, as Connor Mahoney’s deal did when he joined Bournemouth in 2017, then all the details of the deal would have been made public. However, they remained undisclosed. 

And that’s what makes it so difficult to get an exact figure for how much Rovers will benefit from the sale of King, without anyone from the club confirming it, which given the deal was undisclosed, is unlikely.

 

 

It had been thought the fee at the time was in the region of £1.5m, however, Alan Myers revealed it was at least £2m. Myers was the club’s director of communications at the time.

The sell-on clause would be only triggered with any profit on the deal, which would have proven very lucrative had King gone for the £15m and £20m transfer fees that had been mooted in previous windows when clubs such as Manchester United were keen.

Bournemouth boss Jason Tindall, as recently as last week, had suggested that King would see out his contract at the Vitality Stadium and leave on a free transfer in the summer. That was the stance up until deadline day when Fulham and Everton came calling.

Everton won the race, announcing his signing in the early hours of the morning, but did so by saying the 29-year-old was signed for a ‘nominal fee’ for the remainder of the season.

Those close to Bournemouth suggest that could eventually lead to them receiving £5m.

Based upon that, and the believed 20 per cent slice of profit Rovers would be due, as well as using the reported £2m departure fee, that would leave £3m profit and therefore £600,000 for Rovers.

It won’t be as simple as that, not least based upon the structured method of payments towards Bournemouth from Everton, which will only dilute any slice Rovers are due.

The King story has been a never-ending one in the last two years, Rovers facing the prospect of receiving several million to nothing, and now the prospect of a small slice.

Any funds received would never have boosted any transfer coffers, or be money that Rovers would have budgeted for or even relied upon, just a nice bonus at a time when cash flows are slim.