A report in today's Daily Mail reveals that Town received just £2m for Richard Wright when he left Portman Road for Arsenal in the summer of 2001.

An investigation into the transfer involvement of agent Darren Dein, son of Arsenal chief David Dein, claims that Wright's agent Jonathan Barnett received £520,000 commission in the deal, a figure said to be 20% of the overall amount paid by Arsenal.

TWTD has long understood the fee to be well below the £5m-£6m often quoted and Town's accounts for the year 2001/02 confirmed this, declaring the club's transfer income during that period to be £6m which covers the fees received for James Scowcroft and Wright.

After protracted contract negotiations with the Blues during the summer of 2000, Wright finally signed a one-year extension to his deal at Portman Road.

When Arsenal's bid came in the summer of 2001 it became clear that Wright and his agent had the club over a barrel, with the keeper out of contract a year later.

The 2000 negotiations had seen a clause inserted stating that Wright had to be allowed to talk to certain named clubs if they came in with a bid of above a certain level. Presumably that figure was £2 million.

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