Peterborough United made a small announcement this afternoon confirming that star striker Jack Marriott had been sold to Championship side Derby County subject to the player passing a medical and agreeing personal terms.
Rumours started flying around last night when he was withdrawn a few minutes prior to Posh playing Gainsborough Trinity that a deal had been struck and that certainly was the case as Posh Chairman Darragh MacAnthony confirmed:
TBF yes i instructed manager last night to pull kid as gave my word direct to other club owner if deal reached by 7.25, id do exactly that and i stuck to my word. https://t.co/VuEKuxFuAj
— Darragh MacAnthony (@DMAC102) July 25, 2018
Not long afterward, the EFL News twitter account revealed that a deal worth £4.75 million plus add-ons had been agreed.
With MacAnthony having previously told Posh fans to not believe the figures being quoted in the media regarding the figure Posh were after for Marriott, it was widely expected that Posh would accept a figure less than that £6.5 million fee. So, the £4.75m plus add-ons looked like a sensible figure so it was rather a shock when this morning, that figure had shrunk to anywhere between £2m and £3m with add-ons taking the potential final figure up to £5m! Even Sky Sports were reporting the £3m figure (after originally quoting £2m!)!
When those figures were suddenly doing the rounds, a lot of Posh fans were rather unhappy to put it politely!
why do i feel that the hype around JM transfer fee, has led to a panic sale with the season just around the corner and we have sold him on the cheap #pufc
— Matthew Bridson (@mjb2501) July 25, 2018
So who is lying about the fee agreed ? ???? #pufc #dcfc another undisclosed so we will never know ????????♂️
— Sam DB Howard™️ ???????????????????????????????????? (@Sam_PUFC) July 25, 2018
Derby County have had our pants down there! Baffled it’s only £2m…..Jack Marriott is at least worth triple that! #DCFC #PUFC
— Alex Batt (@AlexBatt) July 25, 2018
So club not getting in what they thought or wanted where does that leave the hunt for his replacement and the target man #pufc
— Peterborough (@14obrien14) July 25, 2018
It wasn’t all doom and gloom from Posh fans though:
Derby County don’t realise that by buying Marriott without Maddison is like buying a 3rd choice striker from Luton Town. Cheers for the cash though. ???? #pufc #dcfcfans #dcfc #ltfc https://t.co/90daJlwDTi
— Ian (@SuperPosh7) July 25, 2018
I honestly mean replacing a striker like Marriott will be so much easier than replacing a creative playmaker like Maddison. The club has shows almost every year that replacing the likes of Gayle, CMS, Britt etc hasn’t been hard. Marriott is not irreplacable #pufc
— Peter Nergaard (@NergaardPeter) July 25, 2018
I’m quite pleased Marriott is going… It’s dragged on a bit and I really don’t like players with buns. Bloody gayers! #pufc
— Steve Catling ???????????????????????????????????????????????????? (@FORTUNATES0N) July 25, 2018
After enjoying a day in London with his family, MacAnthony was shocked to see the meltdown over the fee which is undisclosed and has said the figures being quoted in the media was “fake news”:
Swanny @PTAlanSwann will back me up soon enough on the fact all of news reports are in fact fake news regards articles and the amounts. Cheers Fellas. https://t.co/RYqeitIdxT
— Darragh MacAnthony (@DMAC102) July 25, 2018
It also got his goat up with all the backlash he was receiving on Twitter especially the ones who believe Posh will only be getting £3m:
If any posh fans believe I would do business at that level on a top top asset with 3 years left on his deal, then time for me to take a long walk with that kind of lack of trust. No Chairman in L1/L2 has created the amount of deals over last 6 years that i have for club our size! https://t.co/lOfB4KvBA1
— Darragh MacAnthony (@DMAC102) July 25, 2018
So it would appear the local rag will “confirm” that Posh will receive more than the figures quoted today without actually stating how much we will receive. MacAnthony did say the following though which suggests we may eventually find out what fee we’ll receive:
I shall let these kinds of tweets marinate for a while, then when time is right, show them to be the nonsense they are. The clubs and managers who wanted him/didnt get backed for him have made massive mistake. This kid when he goes will light the championship up. #PuntMyArse https://t.co/cNJtsCoFon
— Darragh MacAnthony (@DMAC102) July 25, 2018
With the deal expected to be complete inside the next 24 hours, Posh fans should now be looking to the future and hoping the players brought in during the summer can do the business. Marriott will obviously be replaced as we now have just two senior strikers, one of whom is on loan, plus a 20-year-old who is trying to impress enough to remain in the first team squad and not be shipped out on loan as was planned at the end of last season.
We expect Posh to act quickly in the market to bring in the final one or two players as there are now less than 10 days until the 2018/2019 Football League season kicks off with a home game against Bristol Rovers.
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