Blackburn Rovers and Rangers FC must prepare for lofty transfer demand | OneFootball

Expect wrangling to rumble on over the coming months for the talented Peterborough United winger

Kwame Poku has had an incredible start to the 2024/25 season, and is understandably generating interest from some top sides.

He’s already on course for equalling his goal tally from last season and is battling it out with Stockport County’s Louie Barry for top spot in the scoring charts.

That has, understandably, seen him linked with some top sides, including Rangers and Championship sideBlackburn Rovers.

Posh are accustomed to negotiating sales of top talents, so will be no slouches in the transfer market, but Poku’s contract looks like an emerging issue.

It may force a sale in January if the club want to profit, but they must not do so for nothing.

Poku is having an incredible season

The London-born Ghanian forward signed for Peterborough in 2021 for a ‘substantial six-figure fee’ and has recently revealed that the club have since paid £500k in add-ons.

After a tricky first season in the Championship, the 23-year-old has been a key creator in terms of goals and assists in recent campaigns.

That culminated in his best season to date in 2023/24, netting 11 League One goals and providing seven assists.

However, in just 15 appearances so far this season, he is already closing in on bettering that campaign, having notched 10 goals and added five assists already.

It is little wonder that clubs north of the border and higher up the English pyramid are tracking his progress, but Posh aren’t in the strongest possible negotiating position.

Peterborough will be forced to cash in soon

The winger’s contract is set to expire in the summer, and chairman Darragh MacAnthony already seems settled in the fact that a new deal will not be signed.

However, Poku’s age means that development compensation will be due to Peterborough, at a figure decided by a tribunal, with some in Scotland claiming that cross-border compensation rules would produce a lower figure.

If that projection proves true, then Peterborough may consider trying to cash in during January, to retain some control over Poku’s next destination, rather than risk a potential loss if the player opts for Scotland over England.

But one thing is for certain, they must stick to their guns and not sell him on the cheap.

MacAnthony geared up to demand a good price

Speaking on his Hard Truth podcast, MacAnthony said: “[Tribunals] look at how long he’s been with you. He’ll have been with us four years, he’ll have played probably 200 games, we’d have paid nearly £500k in add-ons already.

“They’ll look at the offers we’ve had. So we’ll be able to straight away go into the tribunal and show them offers from six months ago that were of the value of three-and-three, £3million up front and £3million in add-ons.

“We’d expect the tribunal to be very fair to not discourage clubs from being in that situation when you get richer clubs coming in and to make them pay a fair price.”

It is, of course, not an ideal scenario to find yourself at the mercy of an independent tribunal to negotiate a transfer fee for one of your players, but MacAnthony must stick to his guns.

Before his move to Peterborough, Poku had played just two seasons of League football, and scored just five goals.

Posh have undoubtedly played a key role in the winger’s development; a player who they believe can go on to become a £30million Premier League player in the future.

He may not have been in such conversations without the platform provided at the Weston Homes Stadium, and Peterborough deserve to be compensated for that.

Players like Ephron Mason-Clark (£5million), Ivan Toney (£5million), Harrison Burrows (£3million potentially rising to £6million) and Ronnie Edwards (£3million) have all departed Posh in recent years for substantial fees, so it’s a process that Peterborough understand all too well, and will know exactly what Poku is worth.

Clubs like Blackburn and Rangers must, therefore, expect to pay a lofty transfer fee if they want to get Poku out of Peterborough, but while MacAnthony does not expect to lose out due to the winger’s contract situation, it will certainly add an extra layer of complexity to the negotiations over the coming months.