Meet Peterborough United's third England youth international - Jadel Katongo

The 18-year-old centre-back arrived on a season-long loan from the English champions on Tuesday, fuelling increased speculation that a move could be imminent for either of Posh’s transfer-listed centre-halves Ronnie Edwards and Josh Knight.

Given that he has been described by Darren Ferguson as a player who is “very good on the ball,” Katongo may appear to be a natural replacement for Ronnie Edwards although chairman Darragh MacAnthony has taken to Twitter to say Posh would look to bring in another player on a permanent deal should Edwards be sold.

An appearance in a City ‘Skill School’ video (see link in this story) also gives Posh fans insight into the level of technical ability the defender possesses.

Posh are also confident that can play in a back three and as a right back, which may prove useful giving the lack of cover for Peter Kioso in the current squad.

Katongo will be getting his first taste of senior football at Posh having risen up through the treble-winners’ academy right up from the under 9 level.

In doing so, he was the youngest member of the 2020/21 title-winning under 18 side and has since helped them to retain the title for the last two seasons.

He made his Elite Development Squad debut as well in 2021/22 and spent last season playing in both the EDS squad (16 appearances) and the under 18s (30 appearances), scoring five times.

City’s EDS side have also won the Premier League 2 for the past two seasons, with the help of Katongo.

He also made seven appearances in the UEFA Youth League as City made it to the Round of 16 and has appeared for Pep Guardiola’s side during a friendly against Spanish side Girona.

The young defender becomes the third England youth international at the club, for now, following in the footsteps of Ronnie Edwards and Benjamin Arthur, who made his debut for England’s under 18 side this summer.

Katongo appeared in the summer of 2021 for England under 18s, but is currently the subject of a tug of war between England and Zambia, the country from which his family originates.

England under 19s tried to call up Katongo got a training camp this summer, but he rejected the offer.

He has previously been called up to the Zambia U23 squad for African Cup of Nations qualifiers and Zambia boss, former Chelsea manager Avram Grant, has reportedly instructed the country’s federation to focus on persuading Katongo to switch allegiance to the Chipolopolo and invited him to train with the first team.