Peterborough United manager Evans confident he has built a team of heroes

Manager Steve Evans is adamant he has built the next team of Peterborough United heroes.
Posh boss Steve Evans during the game against CS Maritimo. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.Posh boss Steve Evans during the game against CS Maritimo. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.
Posh boss Steve Evans during the game against CS Maritimo. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.

Evans has overseen the arrival of an astonishing 14 new players and the departure of 13 others.

Such a dramatic turnover has caused concern among some fans, but Evans is confident he has built a squad to contend for the League One title.

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Evans said: “A lot of our supporters might not know a lot of the players we’re bringing in, but they’ll quickly find out about them at the start of the season.

“There’s a lot of talk about the number of players we’ve signed, but people have to realise that we have also seen a lot go out of the door including some – Andrew Hughes and Gwion Edwards for example - who we wouldn’t ideally want to wish to lose.

“We’re still maybe two or three players away from having a finished squad, but what we have already is a squad full of talent, power and pace which was the aim at the start of the summer.

“I am excited by the prospect of watching this squad grow and develop and I am confident Posh fans will be the same.”

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The final make-up of the Posh squad for 2018-19 still depends on the future of star men Marcus Maddison and Jack Marriott. Both are available for sale, but Posh have yet to accept an offer for either despite plenty of interest from Championship clubs.

Marriott has travelled to Portugal for the Posh training camp this week, but the club resisted the temptation to play him in yesterday’s (July 18) 1-0 friendly defeat at the hands of CS Maritimo. Match fitness will soon become an issue for Marriott and Maddison who have yet to have a pre-season run out.

Evans also answered critics who have suggested the Posh pre-season friendly schedule has been too soft. Posh won 4-0 at St Neots last Saturday to make it four victories and 22 goals scored against non-league clubs. Mathew Steven scored twice.

“I don’t hear people criticise top clubs when they go and win 4-0, 5-0 and 6-0 against League Two clubs in Austria,” Evans added. “And a team like St Neots are of that standard.

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Midfielders Adam King and Jermaine Anderson didn’t travel to Portugal because of injury.

Posh are back in action on Thursday against Portuguese Division Three side Louletano on Saturday (July 21).

Posh summer ins and outs: In - Rhys Bennett, Isaac Buckley-Ricketts, Aaron Chapman, Jason Cummings, Colin Daniel, Siriki Dembele, Tyler Denton, Matt Godden, Mark O’Hara, Adam King, Jason Naismith, Louis Reed, Alex Woodyard, Josh Yorwerth.

Out - Callum Chettle, Leo Da Silva Lopes, Michael Doughty, Gwion Edwards, Chris Forrester, Andrew Hughes, Idris Kanu, Danny Lloyd, Ricky Miller, Junior Morias, Alex Penny, Liam Shephard, Steven Taylor.