‘He’s too good - Portsmouth will suit Archie Collins down to ground’: Peterborough view on Sheffield Wednesday, Leicester City and Oxford United target
Pompey are eyeing a move Peterborough United midfielder Archie Collin. We spoke to Peterborough Telegraph’s Posh reporter, Ben Jones, who gave us the lowdown on what their player of the season has to offer.
‘I’m sure our supporters are disappointed to see Archie Collins go, but when you’re Peterborough you have to accept players are going to move on.
‘I think there’s a consensus that he did all he could for the club. He was part of the side who got to the play-off semi-finals against Oxford and he’s played very well for us for the past three years.
‘Potential to be Championship player, definitely’: View on Archie Collins
‘We’ve seen what he’s capable of and, with the level of team we have at the moment, you just have to accept that he’s too good really.
‘He’s coming to a stage of his career where he wasn’t going to sign his best years away to be at a team who’ve finished 18th in back-to-back seasons.
‘All Posh fans will be sad to see him go, but there’s a sense of inevitability about it really. I don’t think that anybody thought staying on was realistically going to be an option this summer.
‘I think he’s got the potential to be a Championship player, definitely. He been a standout performer for pretty much the whole time he’s been at Peterborough.
‘Even over the past couple of years when the team has been struggling, you get a sense that he’s at the level above.
‘There’s been a lot of players who’ve been struggling to show they’re at a good League One level, but he’s still running the midfield and controlling the game. He’s earned his opportunity to play in the Championship.
‘He’s a box-to-box midfielder who will sit a bit deeper and start moves. He’ll take the ball off the defence and distribute it.
‘Archie definitely has good vision, a good eye for a pass and he’s not afraid of a tackle. He’s a bit of an all-rounder and when he was part of a better side, he pushed a bit further forward and got into the box more.
‘He’s not going to win you a multitude of aerial duels, but Archie isn’t afraid of the defensive side of the game.
‘One of his main attributes is his progressive passing. If his team-mates make runs he’s able to pick them out and use a bit of guile.
‘He picked up our player of the season and the supporters’ player of the season.
‘There was a bit of criticism for him last season, mainly because of the way things went. I think he was maybe overly criticised.
‘Two years ago he’s passing the ball out to Kwame Poku, Hector Kyprianou and Ephron Mason-Clark, whereas he’s not had the same quality of player around him.
‘But he won those awards, so it shows the majority of fans could recognise his efforts in challenging circumstances.
‘There was never a chance he was going to stay, he’s shown top quality in League One and I think Portsmouth are now a club in the Championship who will suit him down to the ground.’