The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Edwards could soon follow in the footsteps of some great Posh players
Posh central defender Ronnie Edwards could soon follow in the footsteps of some of the club greats by exchanging London Road for the top flight of English football.
The 19 year-old is now apparently being sought by FA Cup semi-finalists Crystal Palace with a fee of £15million mentioned in despatches.
Last week the Peterborough Telegraph reported Spurs and an unamed Bundesliga club were planning a postseason raid for Edwards who will spend this summer trying to win the European Under 19 ChampionshipswithEngland.
Palace also signed teenage shotshot Adler Nascimento from Posh last year for a cutprice fee as the striker was too young at 16 to sign a professional contract at London Road. Nascimento was paid an astonishing £250k signing-on fee when he left Posh for Palace in the summer.
Of course not all moves into the big-time pay off and Edwards should note the cautionary tale of flamboyant
Posh winger Mark Heeley who moved to Arsenal in September, 1977 aged 18 , but after 15 Gunners appearances he was seen slumming it at Northampton Town.
Others made a success of their high-profile moves most notably current Posh Academy managers Matthew Etherington and Simon Davies, who left London Road for Spurs as young men together for a combined fee of £1.2 million in January, 2000 and went on to enjoy outstanding careers.
Teenage midfielder David Billington and winger Mark McKeever made shock moves to Sheffield Wednesday on the same day for a joint fee of £1 million in March 1977, but the former’s career was wrecked by injury.
Micky Gynn left Posh for Coventry City for just £60k in August 1983 and went on to win the FA Cup with the Sky Blues four years later.
Others to jump straight from Posh to the top flight include goalkeeper Luke Steele (to Man United), centre-back John Wile (to West Brom) and Dwight Gayle, who went to Palace for £6 million in July, 2o13. The expected fee for Edwards will be much, much higher than that!