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Crewe Alex are set to receive a third substantial cash boost of 2018 thanks to promotion hero Ashley Westwood, the Chronicle understands.

The Gresty Road club, whose business model is to balance the books with money raised from player sales, are having a good year financially.

They sold George Cooper to Peterborough United for an initial fee thought to be around £250,000 in January.

Then, in March, schoolboy George Nunn switched to Chelsea in a move which boosted coffers by around £300,000.

Now midfielder Westwood’s final appearance of the season for Burnley has triggered another windfall.

The 28-year-old, from Nantwich, left Crewe for Aston Villa in a £1m deal plus add-ons soon after helping the club to promotion glory at Wembley.

When he switched to Turf Moor for £5m in January 2017, it netted the Alex about £800,000 because they have a clause for 20% of any profit the Villans make .

Now it is believed Villa are due more money from Burnley because Westwood fulfilled the criteria for another clause – playing half the Clarets’ 2017-18 Premier League fixtures and helping them avoid relegation.

It could be as much as £1m, of which Crewe would be due 20%.

Manager David Artell was elusive on the subject, but did confirm a payment is due.

He said: “It did [mean a payment] but I don’t know how much.”

The money is further evidence of the success of the Alex’s business strategy.

As well as the fees they receive up front for sales, clauses for appearances, sell-ons and even international caps are often inserted into deals made with the buying club.

Cash has steadily trickled in as Ryan Colclough, who left in 2016, racked up the games for Wigan Athletic and similar stipulations will have been part of the Cooper and Nunn sales.

Hopes are high that the likes of James Jones, Callum Ainley and Charlie Kirk will bring in more money in the future after they signed new contracts recently.

Still, the Alex are not flush for cash. The club itself makes a loss each year and they spend around £700,000 annually to run the academy.

And the club is taking majority shareholder Norman Hassall to court to recover money that fellow directors claim he has ‘taken out’ of the club.