Peterborough United boss has seen enough from his Swedes to return to the overseas player market
Peterborough United striker Gustav Lindgren could return from injury earlier than expected, but manager Darren Ferguson doesn’t expect to see the best of him until next season.
It’s been a tough season for Lindgren and centre-back Oscar Wallin who both moved to Posh from Swedish club Degerfors IF, although the latter is expected to start for the 10th game in a row against promotion-chasing Charlton Athletic on Saturday. That’s the 23 year-old centre-back’s longest run of consecutive starts of the season.
Lindgren (23) suffered a shoulder injury at Charlton on February 11, but could be back for the League One match at Reading on Saturday week (March 29). Ferguson has seen enough from both to believe shopping abroad for players was a good move by his club.
"If Gustav gets through a week of training he will be available for Reading,” Ferguson said. “And that’s a bit quicker than we expected. Obviously it’s good news for us as we have a busy period coming up when we play Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday before Wembley.
"It’s been a real learning curve for Gustav and Oscar this season. I remember speaking to them both in their early days with us and they both remarked on the relentless physicality of League One. I am sure we will see the best of Gustav next season, but it was important for us to get him back for some games this season as well.
"Oscar has shown real improvement lately. He had one or two slips at Cambridge last weekend, but the week before against Wycombe he delivered one of his best performances. It wasn’t easy for him coming into a side which was leaking a lot of goals, but the recruitment we did in January has helped him. He’s formed a great partnership with Sam Hughes. Sam is a great talker which is probably what Oscar needed and he’s now found a lovely rhythm.
"I’ve never really looked for players in an overseas market before and what I’ve seen from Gustav and Oscar has convinced me it will prove to be a good decision. The quality of player you can get for a good financial deal is decent. They both speak perfect English as well which helps.”
Lindgren scored twice on his debut for Posh in January, but has yet to score a League One goal. He has only started five League One games.
After tackling Charlton tomorrow, and before facing Birmingham City in the Vertu Trophy Final on Sunday, April 13, Posh travel to Reading and Crawley (April 1) and host Northampton Town (April 5) and Birmingham (April 8) in League One games.