POSH LATEST: Westley backs Washington sale

Washington is expected to complete a reported £2.5million move to Championship side QPR today (January 19). The 23-year-old was due at Loftus Road for a medical and to discuss personal terms this morning.

Westley described the deal as ‘very fair’ for Posh and he is delighted that Washington’s career has taken the next step forward. He also doesn’t believe Washington’s exit will wreck his team’s promotion bid.

Posh director of football Barry Fry has revealed he has four possible signings in place ahead of Saturday’s (January 23) tough trip to third-placed Gillingham.

Westley said: “It’s easy for people to say it’s a a bad thing to sell your top scorer, but it’s impossible for us to stand in a player’s way.

“We make commitments to these young players when we sign them and we like to honour those commitments.

“You only have to look at Jermaine Anderson this season. He would have been sold for good money to a big club in January if he hadn’t picked up an injury. Life-changing moments happen in football so if a player gets the chance to move on, it would be wrong for us to stop it, providing the deal is the right one.

“Conor has earned his move. I’m delighted for him. His workrate and level of performance has been exceptional for several months.

“The chairman doesn’t give players away. If the deal is a good one for the club and for the player then we go through with it. The Conor deal is very fair in my opinion.

“There are other clubs sniffing around other players at the moment, but no other offers have been made that we see as viable.

“We are looking around for signings of our own, but clubs shouldn’t think we now have cash to splash.

“The club sells a player a year to balance the books. That’s what we do.

“But prospective new players and their clubs neeed to make a decision on whether a move to our club is a good one. We have shown again that we are a club that can develop players and help them in their careers. The whole team can take credit for helping to develop Conor into a player wanted by several Championship clubs.

“I’m very patient regarding new signings. It’s important we don’t just rush into things. We need to make sure we sign the right ones.

“There are still plenty of goals in this squad without Conor. I watched Lee Angol and Souleymane Coulibaly at Oldham earlier in the season and they were both on fire.

“They both scored twice and both started my first game in charge when we won at Bradford City. Conor was on the bench that day, but was soon playing really well and scoring lots of goals.

“Opportunities are now on offer for other players.”

Posh central defender Michael Bostwick has suffered a setback in training and is unlikely to feature at Gillingham.