Posh create records

Wednesday, 22/02/2012

by Chris Harman, Shoot's Peterborough blogger

Peterborough United have smashed their transfer record with the signing of Crawley Town’s hottest property, Tyrone Barnett.

The 26-year-old, described as ‘the best striker outside the Premier League’ by Crawley boss Steve Evans, joins on an emergency loan till the end of the season, with the permanent transfer being completed in the summer.

The fee bringing the highly-rated forward to London Road is believed to be in excess of £1m. Not only is this the highest transfer fee ever paid by Posh; it’s the highest fee ever paid for a League Two player.

Barnett had scored 15 goals in 33 appearances for Crawley this season. He’s recently been shortlisted for the League Two Player of the Year award.

According to Posh owner Darragh Macanthony, we managed to beat off competition from six other Championship clubs for his signature, with Blackpool and Ipswich believed to have been the frontrunners.

It should therefore be considered something of a coup that he chose to join us, and serves as further evidence of our remarkable rise in stature in the MacAnthony era.

On the face of it, spending £1m on a player seems like a frivolous, even dangerous, venture for a club our size.

However, it should be remembered that we’ve sold Aaron McLean, Craig Mackail-Smith and Ryan Bennett over the past year for a combined total of over £7m, so we’ve earned the right to splash a little cash.

This capture marks a slight departure from our usual transfer policy. Our landmark signings are normally talented young players who can improve their game here to then be sold on for a profit.

For example, eyebrows were raised when we spent a then-club record £500,000 on a 19-year-old Ryan Bennett, but that decision was vindicated when we sold him two years later for over £3m.

At 26, Barnett is approaching his peak in footballing terms, and in a few seasons’ time he may not have much of a sell-on price.

If he helps us retain our Championship status over the next couple of years though, I doubt many people will worry if we lose a bit of money on him.

A big price tag inevitably brings with it big expectations; I’m just hoping the fans don’t demand too much too soon. If we give him time to settle in adapt to the Championship we could have an exciting player on our hands.

Welcome to Posh Tyrone!

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