Peterborough United chairman on the attitude of players set to leave and what he wants from those he will try and sign
Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony has praised the attitude of the players set to leave London Road in the summer.
Captain Hector Kyprianou, star man Kwame Poku and Academy graduate striker Ricky-Jade Jones are all set to depart Posh when their existing deals expire in the summer. Posh made lucrative new contract offers to all three players without persuading any of them to sign.
But MacAnthony has been impressed how they have all knuckled down to help Posh in their battle to avoid relegation from League One. Kyprianou, who turned down the chance of a January exit to help Posh stay up, will miss Saturday’s home game with in-form Charlton Athletic because he is on international duty with Cyprus, but Poku and Jones are expected to be involved.
"They are not playing like footballers set to leave a club,” MacAnthony said on the latest edition of his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast. “They are putting bodies on the line for the club and all credit to them for that. People have asked me to get Poku and Hector to sign, but believe me we have tried. There is always a time when players become ready to move on from us and that’s often how we sell the club to them in the first place.
"I’m confident Hector will sign for a Championship club in the summer for less wages than we offered him to stay here. He wants to play higher and you have to respect that. It hasn’t affected how hard he plays for us though.
"We will have to do some squad housekeeping in the summer and the work has already started on that. We have 19 players currently which is too many. We will need to get a central midfielder in and wingers in to challenge Ibby (Odoh) and Cian (Hayes).
“We want players who are happy to come in and fight for their places, as Ibby and Cian did. They came knowing Malik Mothersille and Kwame were ahead of them, but they have been patient and now they are seen as key members of the squad. I’m expecting 360 degree changes regarding Chris Conn-Clarke and George Nevett as well. The supporters who have been moaning about them will one day be moaning at me for selling them for millions.
"When we signed Ivan Toney he was behind Matt Godden and Jason Cummings in the pecking order, but he worked hard to make that number nine shirt his own.”