New Peterborough United signing hoping to help unlock the potential of teammate and friend Joel Randall

Collins joined Posh on Wednesday from Exeter on a three-year deal and is excited to reunite with former Grecian teammate Randall.

Similar to Randall, 23-year-old Collins has spent his whole career to date at Exeter having joined the club as an eight-year-old; Randall entered the club’s academy at the U11 level before joining Posh in the summer of 2021.

Randall helped to convince the Collins to join the club and it is hoped that the pair can help bring out the best in each other.

Randall’s Posh career is still yet to get going and he appeared in just ten league games, starting just once- on the opening day before being taken off at half time.

Collins said: “Joel has been on me all summer to come up here. It will be nice to see him and spend some time with him and hopefully build him back up.

"It’s good for him to have a face to see and so have I. It’s nice to have him here and it’s definitely a lot easier than knowing nobody, I’m excited.

"This is a big move, I was at Exeter since I was eight but this is the right time with the promotion and the season in League One last year it’s been really good so this is the perfect time for me to move on and try something different and kick on again.”

The versatile midfielder has been a key part of the Exeter team that won promotion out of League Two two years ago and followed it up with a 14th place finish last season.

He added: “I’m delighted to be here and ready to get going. Peterborough have been interested for quite a while now.

"In January, they were asking about me and they have retained their interest. I can keep progressing here and keep adding to my game and hopefully keep going in my career.

“I’m grateful to Exeter for giving me the chance to progress my career. I loved every second and every game I played. My biggest motivation is to play; there aren’t many better feelings than playing and I need to keep that going.

“Football can change very quickly and you have to keep level-headed and keep on focusing on yourself, taking each game as it comes, do your best in training day in, day out and do the right things to perform well on Saturday, which is the most important thing.

“I’ve played a number of positions and I’m just ready to learn different styles in different areas of the pitch, the more the better.

"I’ve learnt a lot in the last six months under two different managers and I’m going to learn a lot more under Darren.”

Collins is Posh’s fourth summer signing alongside Ryan De Havilland, Romoney Crichlow and David Kawa.