Peterborough have strengthened their defensive ranks by signing former Portsmouth full-back Nathan Thompson.
The twenty-eight-year-old has signed a two-year contract at London Road after failing to agree on a new deal with Portsmouth.
Thompson spent two years at Fratton Park, making seventy-eight Pompey appearances following his arrival from Swindon Town in 2017. The experienced campaigner began his career at the County Ground and made one hundred and eighty-seven outings for the Robins in ten years.
Last season he was part of the Pompey squad that reached the play-off final and also scored in the final of the EFL Trophy at Wembley, but he failed to reach an agreement to stay on the South Coast at the end of the season and left the club.
There was speculation in the summer linking him with a move to the Championship; something Posh boss Darren Ferguson acknowledged when expressing surprise to the club’s official website he’d managed to make such a quality addition. He said: ‘Nathan is a very good right back, he is athletic, aggressive and has great experience. I will be honest and say that I am very surprised we have been able to get him. When he left Portsmouth, he was going to the Championship, but for whatever reason, it didn’t come through.’
Many Pompey fans also expressed surprise at the move when they took to social media to react to the news, and it appears plenty were keen to highlight somewhat ironically that Peterborough are in fact a League One club to a player who publicly expressed his ambition to play in the second tier.
Here is a small selection of their responses to the news on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/imeaden/status/1162340436876414976?s=20
Funny looking Championship club? 😂😂😂
— MikeOfPompey (@MikeOfPompey) August 16, 2019
Got his big money move then 😂😂😂
— james69 (@jamespfc69) August 16, 2019
I didn’t realise Peterborough were in the championship?
— Ben Cummings (@Ben_Kumma) August 16, 2019
https://twitter.com/Sam_Carey03/status/1162348070153203717?s=20
Nathan Thompson hahahahaha enjoy rotting away in league 1 you clown
— Charlie Oliver (@Charlieo798) August 16, 2019
Good luck to Nathan Thompson on his step up to a 'Championship Club' 😂 Assuming his agent is looking for a new job now? Jokes aside posh have a good player but kinda glad we stuck to our guns and didnt resign him after he walked away #Pompey
— Mikey (@Mikey_Robs_91) August 16, 2019
Nathan Thompson signs for Championship side, Peterborough
— G (@RyanGwatkin) August 16, 2019
Definitely got that step up he wanted.
He needs to sack his agent.
— Peter (@84Knight) August 16, 2019
