How much is the Peterborough United squad really worth?
One of those football industry websites valued the Peterborough United first-team squad at £8 million last week.
If he saw it, club chairman Darragh MacAnthony is probably still laughing now, even though he probably wouldn’t have been initially amused.
He famously valued a recent Posh squad at £40 million which drew gasps of surprise from the local businessman who had expressed an interest in buying the club.
We’ve crunched some numbers ourselves and come up with our valuations.
£4 million
If Ephron Mason-Clark can go for £4.25 million there’s no reason why another Posh winger with greater potential for improvement – Kwame Poku is two years younger – and who is arguably a more polished performer, can’t be worth a similar fee.
£3 million
High-class, ball-playing, physically-imposing, international midfielders with an eye for goal like Hector Kyprianou don’t come cheap.
£2 million
I find it hard to believe Posh rejected a bid of £2 million for Joel Randall from Bolton Wanderers as that would be right at the upper end of this inconsistent player’s real market value. I find it hard to believe a League One club offered that amount either. This level of fee for midfield ace Archie Collins is far more realistic.
£1 million
He isn’t worth it yet, but the sheer pace of Ricky-Jade Jones makes him a player of interest to bigger clubs. Championship side Sheffield United remain keen. He’s the hardest player to value because it’s pretty much based on potential rather than anything he’s done on the pitch so far.
£500k
This is the fee Posh paid for left-back Rio Adebisi and striker Gustav Lindgren. Neither have had the chance to prove their worth yet. If Malik Mothersille pops in 15 League One goals this season, a 20-year-old centre forward could attract more than £500K.
£350k
Non-league recruits Chris Conn-Clarke, Cian Hayes and George Nevett all cost around this much in the summer. Oscar Wallin was signed for £150k, but has possibly more than doubled his value in less than two months. We could probably lump left-back Jack Sparkes and veteran goalkeeper Jed Steer at around the £350k mark as well.
£250k
Expect deadline day signing Bradley Ihionvien’s value to rocket if he repeats the explosive impact of his debut.. He hasn’t started many Football League games which keep his value low for now. Summer signing Abraham Odoh is similarly valued.
£200k
We’ll make this the current valuation of Emmanuel Fernandez, Ryan De Havilland, Nicholas Bilokapic and James Dornelly.
That’s a total value of £16.9 million which doesn’t into the account the negotiating skills of MacAnthony and director of football Barry Fry.