Key Peterborough United player to go on transfer list after rejecting a lucrative new contract offer
Key midfielder Archie Collins will be placed on the transfer list after rejecting the offer of a new contract at Peterborough United.
The 25 year-old informed the club of his decision to turn down one of the most lucrative deals in Posh history this week, but first-team boss Darren Ferguson is not convinced he will leave London Road just yet.
Posh will command a sizeable fee for a player they took from Exeter City for an undisclosed fee in June 2023 even though he has entered the last year of his existing deal and could therefore leave for nothing next summer.
Ferguson does not expect an issue with Collins’ attitude while he remains at the club. The manager will however be keeping an eye out for a replacement. He declined to comment on reports linking Posh to Accrington Stanley midfielder Ban Woods.
“It’s not not good news on Archie,” Ferguson said at his Thursday press conference ahead of the home game with Luton Town on Saturday. “He won’t be signing the contract we offered him. He his own reasons for that and we have to respect them.
"We couldn’t have done a lot more. Archie knows that. We made one of the best offers I’ve seen in my time at the club. We wanted to build a new team around him and he knew that as well.
"He will now have to go on the transfer list, but I am not convinced he will leave as I don’t believe we will get the money we want for him, and that’s no disrespect to Archie. It will now come down to what bids we receive for him. It will need a good bid to get him and as he’s in the last year of his contract so clubs might prefer to wait.
"I might be wrong and if we do get the right bid we will sell him and move on. In the meantime Archie needs to concentrate on being good enough to stay in our team and I know there won’t be a problem with his attitude. He is a good kid. He will not be screaming and shouting in an attempt to get away.
"I am bitterly disappointed this keeps happening to us. We bring players in and we bring them on, and then they don’t want to sign a new contract. There’s too much power these days with the players. Archie is an adult and makes his own decisions though.
"We will be keeping an eye out for replacements, but I won’t be commenting on players at other clubs. We seem to have great difficulty in keeping things in-house these days which is very frustrating.
"I also have a couple of players already at the club who can play in Archie’s position.”