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Will He Leave Or Won’t He?

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Peterborough United winger Marcus Maddison was placed on the transfer list at the end of last season following an agreement with Chairman Darragh MacAnthony when signing a new contract that he would be allowed to leave if Posh failed to gain promotion.

With Posh finishing ninth last season, MacAnthony was true to his word and placed the “assist king” on the transfer list.

Since then, numerous Championship clubs have enquired about his services while two matched the release clause in his contract.

With Posh expecting to reach an agreement with at least one of these clubs, Maddison was left at home when the rest of the first team squad left for Portugal during pre-season.

While there were clubs willing to meet the £2.5 million release clause, they wanted to spread the cost over 4 years!! Posh were having none of this so the transfer was off.

MacAnthony has often tweeted the different scenarios surrounding the failed bids for Maddison and how the whole situation was affecting him mentally. With the ongoing uncertainty surrounding his situation, he has only played 45 minutes of football in pre-season but in that small amount of time on the pitch, he scored one goal and assisted another!

There is no doubt that wherever he ends up, he will create so many chances for the forwards but with the transfer window slamming shut at 5 pm on Thursday, will he leave Posh or not?

The clubs already mentioned by MacAnthony on Twitter as being interested include the likes of West Bromwich Albion, Reading and Leeds United while we’ve also heard rumblings that Nottingham Forest could also be interested.

To a certain degree, if he were to remain at Posh, he would make our first team squad stronger and more dangerous to the opposition. Despite his ability to unlock the opposition, does he fit the mould of a Steve Evans player?

We saw on Saturday that Joe Ward did a lot of good work on the right side of midfield and in defence, especially when covering the forward runs by right-back Jason Naismith, but he lacked or wasn’t confident enough, to make those forward runs that Maddison would do. Similarly, Siriki Dembele, who was on the left side of midfield, also helped out defensively and linked up well with left-back Colin Daniel while also showing glimpses of the skill and attacking flair he possesses but he doesn’t have that killer pass in his locker yet.

While Maddison is excellent going forward, he is not known for tracking back much or offering a lot of help to the defence! If he is to stay at Posh, would Evans be able to add that defensive ability to Maddison’s CV?

Even if Maddison is still here at 5:01 pm on Thursday, he could still end up leaving the club on loan. The loan window is open until the end of the month allowing potential suitors the chance to continue to negotiate terms on the sale of Maddison before agreeing to a loan.

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Photos courtesy of Joe Dent / www.theposhpics.com

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