Peterborough United boss on Kyprianou, Fernandez, Steer and why it was hard to sign new players on deadline day

Posh rejected a transfer deadline day bid from Championship side Watford for a 23 year-old who will now leave London Road on a free transfer at the end of the season. And Kyprianou was pleased they did.

The central midfielder has come under fire for his performances this season after a stellar 2023-24 campaign, but he will return to the starting line-up for the Vertu Trophy quarter-final at home to Cheltenham Town on Wednesday (7pm kick off).

Ferguson also discussed the positions of centre-back Manny Fernandez and goalkeeper Jed Steer. Posh accepted a bid worth ‘millions’ from Norwich for Fernandez, but the player decided against the move. Steer’s wages forced Posh to consider letting him go in order to fund potential new arrivals, but he remains at the club.

Ferguson revealed Posh did make a couple of enquiries for new players, but lost out to higher-ranked clubs. The manager insists ‘bringing in half a new team’ wouldn’t have worked.

"We had a bid from Watford which we rejected anyway,” Ferguson said. “But Hector wanted to stay anyway and help the club get out of trouble. He will leave at the end of the season now, but he wants to to finish his time here on a positive note, quite rightly as he knows what this club has done for him.

"The criticism of Hector has been unfair. There is nothing wrong with his attitude. He has never once knocked on my door demanding to leave. I’ve taken him out of the side with a view to bringing him back and he will play tomorrow.

"With Manny we have to respect his decision. We received a bid worth millions for him so we decided it made sense to sell, but for whatever reason Manny didn’t go and he is now back in our squad. I’ve told him he needs to have a much better second half of the season than he had in the first half.

"We have three good goalkeepers and Jed was on a decent wage compared to the other two so we felt that could help us if he left, but nothing happened and he is now back in my plans. Jed is a great lad who understood our position and he has experience that could come in useful.

"Having made signings early in January I expected it to be quiet on deadline day. We did make some enquiries, but a couple went into the Championship which can happen. In our position it’s a struggle to attract players and that is no-one’s fault, but ours. Bringing in half a new team would not be the answer anyway. We would have needed to bring in players who are better than we already have. Some would say that would be easy, but I have confidence we have enough to stay in the division.

"Our job now is to focus on the one thing that now matters and that’s avoiding relegation. Players will be leaving at the end of the season, but they are still being paid by this club so they will be professional and do the best they can for us. I didn’t expect to be in this position with 17 games to go, but we are. I can’t suger-coat it as it’s the reality we are in.”