Peterborough United manager on three 'new' players and the difficulty in finding experienced defenders
Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson insists finding experienced defenders to sign in January is not easy.
Ferguson has accepted a struggling, young and inexperienced backline needs help. Posh have conceded the second most goals in League One after bottom club Shrewsbury Town.
The manager is however excited about welcoming three players into the first-team fold next month. Summer signing Rio Adebisi is already back in the matchday squad and should soon be starting games at left-back, while on-loan Manchester City midfielder Mahamadou Susoho is expected to be available again in the middle of January. Susoho played the opening game of the season, but damaged his thigh in the warm-up ahead of the second game, an injury that required an operation.
And Swedish striker Gustav Lindgren is available to play from January 2. Posh are confident he will be a big hit at the Weston Homes Stadium.
“We have three ‘new’ players coming into the squad without the need to go into the transfer market,” Ferguson said. “Rio is champing at the bit to get started. He was our number one left-back target so we have high hopes of him.
"Mo Susoho is back with us to finish off his rehabilitation at the end of this week and we expect him to be ready to go in the middle of January. Again he was someone we chased all summer. And Gustav has been quality in training. We believe we have signed a top player there.
"I’m not a fan of January transfers, but we we will try and get an experienced defender. That’s not an easy thing to do though and we will also need to get players out.”
On loan players Romoney Crichlow and David Ajiboye are due back at Posh from National League sides Dagenham & Redbridge and York City respectively next month, but they will be moved on again if possible. Forwards Jacob Wakeling (Gillingham) and Kabongo Tshimanga (Swindon) are out on season-long loans.