The factors that could persuade Peterborough United to make a January sale

With key players Kwame Poku, Ricky-Jade Jones and Hector Kyprianou all out of contract at the end of the season, rival clubs will believe big hitters can be poached at bargain prices.

Those clubs, if they have no experience of negotiating with Darragh MacAnthony and Barry Fry, will be in for a shock, especially as Posh are convinced they are financially protected by the fact Poku and Jones will still be under 24 when their current deals run out.

That entitles Posh to hefty compensation fees.

That’s not to say Posh won’t sell and Jones is far more likely to leave in January than Poku because the club believe they have already signed a potential replacement for the 21 year-old centre forward in Swedish striker Gustav Lindgren.

Cian Hayes is the natural replacement for Poku, but the 21 year-old, while displaying plenty of promise, is a work in progress.

Lindgren, fresh from a productive season in front of goal for the second tier champions in his homeland, will report for rigorous fitness work at the Weston Homes Stadium in December. He will be available to Posh from January 2.

Lindgren can’t possibly be as quick as Jones, but he plays best off the shoulder of defenders so running in behind is a forte, and a necessity, with the way Posh now play.

Jones will attract plenty of higher-level interest now he has added goals, strength and technique to that blistering pace. Sheffield United were very keen to take him as well as Harrison Burrows from Posh last summer.

Presumably Posh won’t want to lose Kyprianou for nothing. They won’t want to lose him at all, but a financial decision to sell could well be made, especially if Manchester City loanee midfielder Mahamadou Susoho is as good as Posh believe.

Susoho is due to return to the club in January. Ryan De Havilland and Donay O’Brien-Brady have done a fine job in covering the injury absences of Kyprianou (hamstring) and Susoho (thigh) as Posh boss Darren Ferguson has acknowledged.

“The other midfielders have actually done really well,” Ferguson said. “And we get Mo Susoho back in January, but we certainly don’t want to lose Hector. We want Hector to win a promotion with us.”

He might not get his wish as Kyprianou was sought after in the last two transfer windows, by Championship clubs, with Coventry City believed to be one of his suitors.

Coventry are understood to have first refusal on a Posh player from the negotiations that eventually took Ephron Mason-Clarke to the Sky Blues last January.

It will be fascinating to see what develops.