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Peterboro claim they were set to sign Lionel Ainsworth - but decided not to spend the money.
The Peterboro Evening Telegraph says the fee that saw Ainsworth join Huddersfield was £400,000, with The Posh pulling out of the deal as "I don't want to bring players in just to sit on the subs' bench." according to boss Darren Ferguson. The paper also notes that Ferguson also had a deal on the table to take Theo Robinson to London Road but declined that for similar reasons.
If the £400,000 fee is accurate then the Bulls may be in line for a further payout. Details of the original deal that took Ainsworth to Watford were never released, but it was described as having the potential to be the biggest in the club's history. The largest deal so far was Darren Peacock's move to QPR, which eventually netted the club a total of £440,000.
During his limited first team matches at Vicarage Road the winger would have been unlikely to have triggered any clauses that would have realised that potential. The transfer of Andy Williams to Bristol Rovers included clauses for promotion and payouts once he had played a certain amount of matches, plus a 20% sell on clause, while Paul Parry's switch to Cardiff included payouts for matches played, an international cap, and promotion clause but no sell-on according to reports. Parry's original fee was £75,000 but the clauses have increased the total to £200,000.
