3:57pm Thursday 6th August 2009
Watford could be forced to pay more than £500,000 for Danny Graham after the Football League tribunal was held today.
The Hornets have been ordered to pay Carlisle United £200,000 for the 23-year-old striker after the clubs could not agree a transfer fee following an initial £25,000 offer last month.
Watford will also have to pay an additional £30,000 every 15 appearances Graham makes up to a maximum of 75 games. If the Hornets win promotion in the next three seasons they will also have to give the League One club another £200,000.
Graham has made an impact in his short spell at Vicarage Road netting five goals in five pre-season games and is expected to start the first Championship match against Doncaster on Saturday.
Watford chief executive Julian Winter said: "We feel we have acquired an excellent player in Danny Graham and the fee represents good value for our money. Everyone at the club is looking forward to seeing Danny play this season."
Carlisle chief executive David Allen told United's site: "We are absolutely chuffed to bits. This is a really good result for us. It was Carlisle United who took the chance on signing Danny when Middlesbrough were prepared to let him go and it was also this club who developed and transformed his career into what it is now.
"Watford's offer of £25,000 was totally derisory and we made it perfectly clear that we would not be messed around in this way. We are now thrilled that the transfer tribunal's decision was to award us a package that is a much truer reflection of the player's real value.
"We had offered Danny a very handsome wage rise to stay here but he chose to exercise his right to move on. He leaves our fans with some great memories of the goals he scored, even though they dried up for him back in January."
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