Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony has revealed the transfer fee that he paid to sign Jacob Wakeling from Swindon Town last summer.

Wakeling was an instant hit with Swindon having arrived after leaving Leicester City with expectations of him being a developmental prospect following a difficult loan spell at Barrow AFC the previous season.

But the striker hit the ground running and scored eight goals in 45 appearances, with four goals and three assists in his first ten appearances, performing so well that he was tied down to a contract until 2026.

After starting last season on the bench under Michael Flynn after Jake Young got off to a flyer, he made an abrupt departure to Peterborough on Deadline Day for an undisclosed fee, leaving Swindon very short in the striker position.

Wakeling only made eight appearances last season for Posh, mainly off the bench in League One, and has joined Gillingham on loan this season, beginning life in Kent with a goal on his debut against Carlisle United.

Speaking about Peterborough’s recent transfer business on his podcast “The Hard Truth”, MacAnthony discussed Wakeling and revealed how much he had paid for the then-21-year-old.

He said: “We have got young Jacob at Gillingham, I was happy with that, people were like ‘Why are you dealing with Gillingham?’ Well, I believe [Paul] Scally is not really involved any more, I dealt with Kenny Jackett and that was great.

“Jacob wanted to go out and play, he has been brilliant in pre-season and we were okay with him staying but he felt with Ricky[-Jade Jones] and Malik [Mothersille], he wasn’t sure he was going to get the games, he doesn’t want to play out wide and we have got lots of wide players.

“We were of the thinking that Jacob is young, we spent £150,000 or £170,000 on him last year as a young player, it was part of the deal that if someone signs him, he is not a wide player, play him down the middle and he will score 25 goals in League Two.

“We feel really strongly about that, we looked at the teams as we had three offers and I picked Gillingham because I liked the wide players, I think they are going to create a lot of goals and it will suit Jacob.

“He is rapid and has everything a good League Two would want and I think that puts Gillingham in the top six favourites.”