Peterborough United have been linked with a January swoop for Rangers midfielder Greg Docherty [Peterborough Today] and it’s a potential move that makes a whole lot of sense.
When Docherty signed a four-and-a-half-year deal at Ibrox in January 2018, the lifelong bluenose was likely hoping for a storied career with the club.
However, things simply haven’t gone to plan.
He probably arrived at just the wrong time, with instability still around the club. He made it to Rangers before Steven Gerrard, and the manager has since recruited heavily in midfield.
Docherty is combative, works hard and has an eye for goal, but unlike the ball-players Gerrard has brought in, such as Steven Davis, Glen Kamara and Joe Aribo, passing isn’t his strong suit.
After a promising amount of early-season game time in Europa League qualifiers, he’s completely dropped out of the picture, failing to make a matchday squad since the League Cup win over East Fife in August.
At 23, Docherty is no longer a youth player with potential, but a fully-fledged professional who needs to be playing games.
That’s why a move in the January window makes sense.
A transfer to any other Scottish club would clearly be a backward step, which is why England should hold such appeal.
Besides, he’s been there and done it before, during his impressive 2018/19 loan spell with Shrewsbury Town. For a side struggling at the wrong end of the EFL League One table, he made 50 appearances, scored 10 goals and won the Player of the Season award.
While a switch straight to the Championship may be a little ambitious at this stage, a natural progression would be a move to a promotion-chasing third-tier side. It’s a league he knows well and one in which he knows he can perform, while working towards promotion would constitute a new challenge.
Peterborough are a club with that aim. They currently sit third in the table, just one point behind second-placed Ipswich Town and comfortably inside the playoff spots.
They have stability under the ownership of Darragh MacAnthony, with Darren Ferguson in his third stint as manager.
It’s a move that makes sense for both Docherty and the Posh.
It’s likely Rangers would receive a relatively significant fee should a transfer go through, too. The ex-Hamilton player is rated at £675k by Transfermarkt and has two-and-a-half years remaining on his current contract.
