Potential Rangers target Kwame Poku is closing in on a return for Peterborough United after an explosive season was interrupted by injury.
Rangers News exclusively revealed Rangers had watched Poku bang in a hat-trick against Cambridge United earlier in the season.
This was a stand-out performance in a season chock full of them, with Kwame Poku netting 10 goals and laying on eight assists in 20 games before being cut down with injury.
Out of contract in the summer, Premier League clubs have also been linked to Poku this season but the Peterborough star’s future remains undecided as things stand.
Kwame Poku closes in on Peterborough return
After attracting interest from the likes of Crystal Palace and Southampton, Poku sustained a hamstring injury in December.
This essentially halted the 23-year-old winger’s progress and has cast major doubts over Poku’s next move after impressing with the Posh.
Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson suggested in February that Poku could return for the last ‘dozen games’ of the season.
Now, after more than three months on the sidelines, Ferguson has told Peterborough Today to expect to see Poku back in the Posh squad for this weekend’s clash with Wycombe Wanderers.
Poku last played for Peterborough in the 1-0 defeat to Burton Albion way back on the 4th of December, having missed 16 league games since.
To give an inclination into just how devastating the injury has been to Peterborough’s campaign, the League One side have only won four of these matches without the winger.
Poku had been been compared to Cole Palmer of Chelsea given both his style and influence at Peterborough earlier in the season.
Rangers can sign Poku for cut-price fee
Even if Kwame Poku can get fit and firing in the final two months of the season, Peterborough are now a long shot for promotion to the Championship.
The mid-table Posh side find themselves 20 points off a play-off spot with only 11 games and 33 points left to play for.
Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony has previously spoken about Poku’s future and has suggested that the Posh are resigned to losing the winger.
But should Kwame Poku move on to a club in England, the Irishman is clear that Peterborough will demand a development fee in the region of £6m.
“(Tribunals will) look at a lot of things,” said MacAnthony said on the Hard Truth podcast.
“They’ll look at how long he’s been with you? He’ll have been with us four years, he’ll have played probably 200 games, we’d have paid nearly £500k in add-ons already.
“They’ll look at the offers we’ve had. So we’ll be able to straight away go into the tribunal and show them offers from six months ago that were of the value of three-and-three, £3m up front and £3m in add-ons (£6m in total).
“We will expect minimum that plus, plus, plus and plus.”
Rangers wouldn’t have to pay such a hefty fee given the club’s status in Scotland with cross-border fees substantially lower.
The Ibrox side have taken advantage of such rules in the past with the signatures of Joe Aribo, Calvin Bassey and even Zak Lovelace.
This adds to the intrigue around Kwame Poku’s situation with the young Ghanaian international technically free to discuss terms elsewhere.
