Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony has claimed Lincoln City do not have the budget to pay a fee for transfer-listed midfielder Mark O’Hara.
O’Hara enjoyed a successful loan spell at Sincil Bank in the second half of 2018/19, helping the Imps to the League Two title with several all-action displays which led to speculation the deal would be made permanent at the end of the season.
The player had also publically stated his desire to stay at Sincil Bank.
Since the end of the campaign, things have gone a little quiet on news of O’Hara with the only snippet being a recent report in the Peterborough Telegraph which claimed Posh had yet to receive any acceptable bids for their transfer listed players. Peterborough placed O’Hara on the list of those players available for transfer last month only a year after his signing from Dundee on a three-year deal.
In a tweet, MacAnthony replied to a query on the future of the former Scotland U-21 international from a Lincoln City fan by claiming Danny Cowley had told Posh Lincoln did not have the budget to pay a fee for O’Hara and suggested Lincoln were playing a waiting game hoping to get the player for free which he stated would not happen.
https://twitter.com/DMAC102/status/1137718697915797504
Our View
Lincoln may just be playing hardball to see how the situation develops, but Lincoln fans were probably thinking a return for O’Hara was doubtful when Michael O’Connor signed a new deal at Sincil Bank last month.
MacAnthony’s statement might worry Lincoln fans who have been told on several occasions the club will struggle to compete financially next season or they may just see it has a chairman of an opposing team doing some public point scoring.
MacAnthony is suggesting Lincoln are still interested, but my feeling is this one looks like it is going nowhere at the moment despite the player stating he would love to make a move to Lincoln permanently.
The money needs to be spent on a Forward Line !