A club record-busting contract offer won't keep Kwame Poku at Peterborough United
Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony is resigned to losing star man Kwame Poku at the end of the season despite a club record busting contract offer.
But the 23 year-old will leave London Road with the blessing of everyone at the club with MacAnthony tipping the winger to be a Premier League star of the future.
Poku’s current contract status – his existing deal runs out in June 2025 – became a focus of attention again after a superb hat-trick in last weekend’s 6-1 hammering of local rivals Cambridge United.
But Posh won’t lose out financially on Poku as his age will ensure a tribunal decides his transfer fee and MacAnthony expects that to be set in the many millions.
The chairman revealed on the latest edition of his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast he rejected a £3 million offer with £3 million in add ons for Poku in the summer.
"There are many things a tribunal takes into account when setting a transfer fee,” MacAnthony said. “The offers we have already had are part of that as are his appearances, his goals, the contract offer we have made him and what we have paid out in transfer fees ourselves so we will still get millions and millions for him.
"We did make him a club record offer, but he knows it’s time for him to go to the next level. We hope he wins promotion with us first.
"Kwame probably won’t go to the Premier League straight away, but he will get a high-end Championship club. He will be a Premier League star in the future and that next move will probably cost £30 million.
"We spent £250k on him initially, plus half a million in add ons since then. He’s top drawer. He has everything, a great technique, pace and physicality.
"It will have been a pleasure to have him for four years, but he will leave with our best wishes. Fans should stop worrying about players leaving for better things as it’s the law of the jungle, the nature of the beast and new heroes will come in.”