Who is Malik Mothersille? Peterborough United's new striker was happy to leave the comforts of the Premier League behind

Perhaps unintentionally, Posh have ended the transfer window with a much stronger squad than they went into deadline day with.

Posh now have three centre forwards battling for the one starting spot - Jonson Clarke-Harris, Jacob Wakeling and Malik Mothersille - with manager Darren Ferguson also insisting that Ephron Mason-Clark and Ricky-Jade Jones are also capable of filling the role.

The latest addition was 19-year-old and 6”2 Mothersille whose deal was announced on Saturday afternoon, given the fact that he was not subject to the deadline after joining when a free agent.

His footballing journey first began at Leyton Orient, but he signed terms as a scholar with Chelsea in 2020, aged 15.

An undisclosed compensation fee has been agreed with Chelsea because he came through the club’s Academy.

The Londoners even tried to keep Mothersille, but the parties could not agree terms with playing time believed to have been one of the main sticking points.

He was rated highly by Chelsea, who invited him to their first team training camp in Abu Dhabi in December and gave him 26 minutes of action in a friendly against Aston Villa.

Clubs in both England and Germany were believed to be monitoring Mothersille’s situation. He went on trial at Everton in the summer with a view to joining their Under 21 squad, but chose not to sign.

Having already tasted senior action last season, scoring four times in three EFL Trophy ties, including twice at the Weston Homes Stadium in a 4-2 victory over Posh, Mothersille has made the move in search of regular first-team football.

Mothersille started for Chelsea in Premier League 2 on January 22, but was limited to just 153 minutes in the matches following with Mark Robinson (former AFC Wimbledon boss) preferring Mason Burstow; who has came off the bench twice in the Premier League this season and started in the EFL Cup against Wimbledon for the Blues this season. Burstow has now moved on loan to Sunderland.

Mothersille finished the season on eight goals, just three behind Burstow with far fewer opportunities.

He was also the leading scored for the Under 18s in the previous campaign.

Posh boss Darren Ferguson has described Mothersille as a good size, quick, powerful, someone who plays on the shoulder and can link, but who wants to run in behind.

He has also praised the forward’s one-on-one finishing. Both of the goals he scored against Posh last season were as a result of running in behind defenders before applying a clinical finish.

Mothersille already has a good relationship with loan signing Zak Sturge as the pair played a number of times together at Chelsea, including at London Road last November.