Bolton Wanderers join Bristol Rovers in race for Peterborough United star

In the last three years, Jonson Clarke-Harris has carried on the long list of strikers who have passed through Peterborough United and found the back of the net on a regular basis.

Clarke-Harris signed for Posh in 2020 from Bristol Rovers and he was a step away from their normal policy of investing in youth as they brought in a player seemingly in the prime years of his career.

And he showed that with his goalscoring abilities, netting 33 times in 49 appearances in his debut season at London Road as Peterborough made it back to the Championship for the 2021-22 season.

He scored 12 goals in their second tier campaign that year as United were relegated back to League One and in the 2022-23 season he once again was prolific with 29 goals on his record.

Surprisingly though, there seems to be little in the way of Championship interest in Clarke-Harris and instead it is League One clubs that are keen on the 29-year-old.

There was interest from the United States earlier on in the window whilst Darragh MacAnthony also claimed that three League One clubs had been in contact for the striker earlier this month.

And one of those appears to be his former club Bristol Rovers, who sold the Jamaica international to Posh in the first place three years ago.

The Gas have now been taken over by Kuwaiti businessman Hussain Al-Saeed and despite landing Jevani Brown earlier in the window and having Aaron Collins on the books too, they were revealed by Sunday Mirror Sports Editor Darren Witcoop on Saturday night to be working on a deal to bring him back to the Memorial Stadium.

They will face competition though, as in an update on his claims, Witcoop has said that Bolton Wanderers are also looking into a deal for Clarke-Harris in the final week of the transfer window.

Their own talisman Dion Charles has been linked with Championship clubs and the Trotters are believed to be watching developments play out on Clarke-Harris should the Northern Ireland international depart for a significant fee.

Clarke-Harris is in the last 12 months of his contract at Peterborough, and when a player goes into the final year of his deal it is club policy to publicly put the individual on the transfer list.

Whilst Peterborough probably don’t want to lose their top scorer from the last few years, especially to a divisional rival, Posh will also not want to lose him on a free transfer next summer either.

And now at the age of 29, United could cash in and re-invest on a younger talent to take up the number nine spot at the Weston Homes Stadium.

Putting Clarke-Harris next to Aaron Collins at Bristol Rovers would make them sure-fire promotion contenders for the Championship, but it could also displace another exciting summer signing in Jevani Brown.

There would be plenty of competition for attacking places under Joey Barton if they were to strike a deal for Clarke-Harris, but if he signed for Bolton to replace Charles then he would be the main man at the Toughsheet Community Stadium.

You would have thought that Clarke-Harris would have at least some Championship interest but perhaps at the age of 29, second tier clubs are looking at younger players elsewhere.

It does seem though that there’s a good chance Clarke-Harris could depart Peterborough before the transfer deadline, and that would give Darren Ferguson a headache to replace him with little time left in the market.