Darlington may have lost Luke Charman, but he could continue to have an influence at Blackwell Meadows if he continues his scoring streak with Rochdale.

His 19 goals in 33 games has earned the 24-year-old hotshot a move to Dale, but canny Quakers have insisted on two sell-on clauses.

This would enable Darlington to receive a percentage of any transfer payment made to Rochdale for Charman, and again if the striker moves once more.

Dale triggered a release clause in the contract Charman signed last summer, understood to be £40,000, which was agreed after Notts County made a paltry offer.

“There’s no way Luke would’ve signed a new contract without a release clause,” explained Armstrong. “If we hadn’t come to an agreement on the contract then we would’ve lost him for pennies.

“If we’d wanted a release clause worth triple figures, then his salary would’ve had to be a be higher. It’s a fine balancing act and a lot of it has been done on trust between me, Luke, DJ and Luke’s agent.

“But we’ve got sell-ons and add-ons, so we’ve done okay. It took a bit of time, a bit of negotiating and we’ve done what’s best for the club.”

Ben Godfrey’s move from Norwich City to Everton in 2020 for around £25m meant York were reported to receive around £2.5m due to a 10 per cent sell-on clause.

All concerned would relish something similar happening to Charman, and Armstrong added: “Hopefully Luke goes on and does extremely well, and if he does we’ll get something from that too and if he does even better and moves again then we get something from the next sell-on too.

“If, say, he moves from Rochdale to a Championship club in a year’s time we would get a cut, and then a year later a Premier League club signs him we get something again. You never know, it does happen.

“He’s got the potential and I think he’s gone to the right place at Rochdale. Robbie Stockdale brought Jake Beesley through and sold him on recently to Blackpool in the Championship, and I think that’s what Luke looked at.

“Rochdale were professional throughout, as were all of the clubs interested in Luke apart from one.”

There would have been no deal with Dale, however, had Darlington not persuaded Charman to sign a new deal when National League Notts County offered around £5,000. Quakers did not want to accept it, but Charman’s head was turned.

Armstrong had the foresight to be believe, given time, Football League clubs would be interested in the former Newcastle United youngster.

The protégé had shown promise and potential in 2020-21, but Charman’s first season saw him suffer several injuries – an affliction he had at Newcastle too – and he failed to score in six league fixtures.

Armstrong: “We had an issue in the summer when a club came in and offered peanuts, and that scattered Luke’s brain because he wanted to get back to full-time.

“It was nowhere near what he was worth. Luke was desperate to back into full-time but it was only a National League club, I said ‘trust me because you can bypass that league’. I told him to work his socks of, score more goals and he’ll go into the Football League and six months later he has.

“He did everything we asked of him and we’ve stuck to our side too. I’m gutted just like all the fans because I didn’t want Luke to go, but it had it be done. He could’ve got injured and then he’s not worth a penny. Circumstances can change quickly.”