Peterborough United have made an approach to Wrexham over star youth prospect Harry Ashfield.
The Welsh side have promoted the local midfielder through their ranks into a sporadic role in the first team, with Phil Parkinson handing him his Red Dragons league debut last season against Blackburn Rovers.
EFL Interest Continues
However, with a stocked locker room, January saw Wrexham entertain offers from clubs over a loan move for Ashfield, with Bristol Rovers tipped to complete a loan switch.
It was their South West rivals in Cheltenham Town who ultimately won the race for his services, recruiting him on Deadline Day as part of Steve Cotterill’s bid to keep the Robins in League Two.
The midfielder played 17 times for the Whaddon Road club, scoring twice and assisting once as he played a deputising role for Isaac Hutchinson and Luke Young on their way to an 18th-placed finish.
Now, interest has resurfaced from the lower leagues, with Football Insider reporting that League One side Peterborough United have made an approach to Wrexham over a permanent deal.
Posh have already begun their overhaul of the playing squad following a disappointing campaign, and have already been tipped with moves for some of the EFL’s best young prospects, including Kyreece Lisbie from Colchester United.
Attacking midfielders Chris Conn-Clarke and Klaidi Lolos have been transfer-listed by the London Road club, while Archie Collins has been marked for release when his contract expires at the end of the month.
Risk-Taking Needed
Two seasons of mediocrity at Peterborough United has prompted owner Darragh MacAnthony to sanction a massive change in personnel this summer, which has to be got right.
While their acumen at signing top prospects has stuck around with their deal to sign Harry Leonard perhaps one of their best in recent memory, the club have leaned into signing a few more older players, such as Jacob Mendy and Thomas O’Connor, both from Wrexham at the start of last season.
Those proven EFL players, alongside other signings like Klaidi Lolos and even a National League star in Chris Conn-Clarke, have failed to deliver any meaningful progress from the previous campaign, meaning that a change in approach was needed.
While that need in balance between youth and experience is needed for any squad to thrive, Peterborough’s best times of recent memory have been through handing the reins to the younger members of their ranks, like Kwame Poku and Ronnie Edwards.
Adding a player like Harry Ashfield does feel a slight risk given his inexperience in senior football, but given how highly rated he has been at Wrexham, it is a punt worth making.
His time at Cheltenham Town was largely as a rotational option, meaning that a full season of regular game time may be a daunting prospect, but he should be able to adapt and find his feet with enough time and backing from Luke Williams.
