LATEST NEWS: Striker Shaq told he can leave the ABAX

Shaquile Coulthirst. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.

Posh only signed the 21-year-old from Spurs in January. He was a major transfer target of former Posh boss Graham Westley.

But just eight months after arriving at the ABAX Stadium for a small fee, Coulthirst has paid for a lack of goals and a lack of any consistent form. He’s scored just three goals in 29 appearances (13 appearances were as a substitute).

Coulthirst was close to joining League Two side Stevenage on transfer deadline day (August 31), but the deal fell through at the last minute.

And now Posh boss Grant McCann has confirmed Coulthirst has dropped below 17 year-old youth team player Dean Moore in the pecking order. Coulthirst didn’t make the matchday squad for the first time this season for Saturday’s (September 3) home draw with Swindon.

Paul Taylor and Tom Nichols remain McCann’s preferred strike pairing. He also has Lee Angol up his sleeve.

Angol is recovering well from a broken leg suffered on the opening day of pre-season.

McCann said: “Shaquile is a great lad. He works hard for the team and he works hard in training.

“But at this stage of his career he needs to play regularly and I can’t offer him that.

“I’ve told him for now that he is behind Tom, Tayls and Deon, and I have Lee to come back. Lee was out on the grass with the physio today (September 6) so he’s making good progress.

“We did try and get Shaquile out on loan, but we couldn’t quite get the deal done in time.”

Posh will try and off-load Coulthirst when the transfer window re-opens on January 1. New rules for this season mean he isn’t even able to leave on loan outside of transfer windows.

McCann will have right-backs Michael Smith and Hayden White available for the visit of Port Vale to the ABAX for a League One fixture on Saturday (September 10).

Smith has been away on international duty with Northern Ireland. White has recovered from a groin injury and trained with the rest of the first-team squad today.