Peterborough United chairman has one strict condition before he will negotiate player sales in the January transfer window

MacAnthony doesn’t want to stand in the way of star young players capable of playing at a much higher level, but he’s also determined not to do anything to undermine what has been an outstanding season so far from his team and his management staff,

On the latest edition of his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast, which was released on Friday morning, MacAnthony revealed he had received, and rejected, a bid from a top Championship club for a player who had previously not attracted any offers.

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“We’ve had bids galore,” MacAnthony said. “We’ve just had one from a top seven Championship club and my answer was the same for many other bids.

"I tell them I’m happy to do business today, but I want to keep the player until the summer. Then there’s disdain and a ‘no.’

"To be fair the bids we’ve received have been brilliant bids. There have been no P*** takes this time. It’s been a weird transfer window so far for the Premier League clubs as everyone is being careful about financial fair play, but for us to get the bids we have been getting, well that’s just testament to how well we have been doing.

"But I’m telling everyone there’s room to negotiate on the money, but I’ll only negotiate if we can get the players back for the rest of the season. They won’t do that so there is no negotiating to be done.

"It’s a fine line I’m treading. I don’t want to stand in the way of players, and a couple of the offers have been very lucrative, but I don’t want to get in the way of what we are working hard to do either.”

Star defender Ronnie Edwards and forward players Kwame Poku, Ephron Mason-Clark, Ricky-Jade Jones and Joel Randall, plus club captain Harrison Burrows, are all known to have attracted bids this month.