Peterborough United are on the hunt for their number one goalkeeping target but can Director of Football Barry Fry work his magic to seal the deal?
With Tottenham Hotspur loanee Luke McGee heading back to White Hart Lane after spending the majority of the season on loan at Posh and with Mark Tyler not being offered a playing contract for next season, we all knew one of the main positions we had to fill was the goalkeeping position.
All the noises coming out of the ABAX Stadium and from across the pond from Posh Chairman Darragh MacAnthony was that Posh would try to bring the 21-year-old back on loan again. However, the costs involved in doing that made it pretty remote plus it was expected McGee would continue his career by going on loan to a Championship side.
With that in mind, Posh had given trials to West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper Jack Rose and young Birmingham City goalkeeper Jake Weaver at the end of the season as they featured for the Posh reserves.
Both players are available on free transfers and while it is anticipated that Posh may be looking to bring two goalkeepers on, which would allow youngster Dion-Curtis Henry to go out on loan again, Posh`s main focus has switched back to North London in what is an audacious bid by Posh to not only bring McGee back to the ABAX but to sign him permanently on a free transfer!!
Even if Fry did pull off a coup by negotiating a free transfer, could Posh afford McGee`s wage demands?
Posh Director of Football spoke to Spurs supremo Daniel Levy in a recent match involving West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur about the possibility of signing McGee. Speaking to PeterboroughToday, Fry confirmed: “We had a conversation, and while negotiating with Levy is never easy, I made our case and I hope we will speak again soon. I want to sign Luke on a free transfer, but I would give Spurs a huge sell-on fee.
“It makes sense for us and I think it makes sense for Spurs as well as, good as Luke is, he is not near their first team and I understand they will be signing another goalkeeper soon anyway.
“We like Luke a lot. He`s the best goalkeeper alongside Mark Tyler in my time at the club and he will only improve. He`s a million per cent interested in coming back to us next season.
“He enjoyed his football, he got on well with the rest of the players and he enjoyed playing for Grant McCann. In our opinion he is going to be a star goalkeeper of the future, but he will get to the top a lot quicker if he was playing regular first-team football.”
The offer to take McGee off the books of Spurs in exchange for a big sell-on fee sounds the perfect solution for a player who is fourth in line for a first team goalkeeping jersey at White Hart Lane. However, Levy is just as good as Fry when it comes to the negotiating table so we may not see McGee arriving on a free transfer especially as McGee only extended his contract at Spurs last season which now expires in 2019.
While some Spurs fans think it`d be a win-win for both clubs if he joins Posh for nothing, others suggest that Posh should be forking out between £3 and £5 million if they want their man!!
Their argument is that McGee is already a starting quality professional at just 21 years of age which makes it a very encouraging sign for his long-term development. Spurs could easily choose to let his game grow for several more seasons to see if he`s capable of developing into Lloris` long-term replacement.
There wouldn`t be any shortage of clubs willing to give him regular playing time on loan and it`s already known that a Championship side wanted to take him on loan in January before Posh extended his loan.
Whether Posh can get their man, we`ll have to wait and see but Posh do have a number of other goalkeeping targets if a deal can`t be struck for McGee.
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