The club’s director of football, Barry Fry, who is in charge of transfer negotiations at London Road, confirmed today that Posh have stepped up their pursuit of one of manager Darren Ferguson’s main summer targets.

The player concerned would be signed on loan for the rest of the season rather than on a permanent basis. Posh have also handed England Under-20 right-back Elliot Omozusi a trial, but he was not thought to have impressed during Tuesday’s reserve team draw at Wycombe.

Fry said: “There is definitely a chance we could have a defender in the squad before our next match. It’s a player the manager made his major target in the summer, but for one reason or another we weren’t able to complete a deal.

“We have an agreement in place with the player, but the club are keen on tying the lad to a new contract before they allow him to go on loan.”

Posh were linked with an unnamed Premier League central defender throughout the close season before signing a different target, teenager Krystian Pearce from Birmingham City.

However Pearce has yet to be trusted with a Championship start despite Posh failing to keep a solitary clean sheet. Omozusi, who is eligible to play for Nigeria as well as England, was released by Fulham at the end of last season.

He played regularly for Norwich City in the first half of the Championship last season and has recently spent time on trial at Sheffield United.

Ferguson is currently on secondment with the Irish national team as they prepare for their vital World Cup qualifying clash with Italy in Dublin this Saturday.

The Posh boss is studying Irish manager Giovanni Trapattoni’s coaching methods as part of his UEFA A coaching badge course.

Ferguson remains in constant contact with the club and the support for his position from within Posh remains massive.

Posh have just seven points from their first 11 matches prompting national bookmakers to make them favourites for relegation, but Fry has drawn on his own experience as a manager to convince Ferguson that things can change quickly in football.

Fry was in charge of Posh in the 2002-03 when they lost seven straight games in August and September and sat 22nd in Division Two at the turn of the year. Posh rallied to finish 11th.

Fry said: “Everything was against us then, but it only takes one win to change things around. We finished in the top half of the table that season after a dreadful start when we didn’t know where a win or a goal was coming from.

“I keep reminding Darren that things change quickly in football and they will for us. We have the best chairman we have ever had, the brightest manager and a very talented squad of players.

“We have had no luck so far this season.