Peterborough United director of football Barry Fry has confirmed Chelsea’s interest in highly-rated 19-year-old centre-back Ronnie Edwards.
English defender Ronnie Edwards is attracting interest from some of the biggest Premier Leageu clubs this summer. The 19-year-old Peterborough United prodigy started 34 matches for them in the EFL Championship last season and has also played both their League One matches this season.
The likes of Manchester City and Crystal Palace have recently been linked with the English defensive prodigy, with the club’s director of football Barry Fry confirming the former’s enquiry about Edwards. Meanwhile Crystal Palace reportedly had a bid worth £4 million for the teenager turned down.
Chelsea have now entered the fray and have made a formal enquiry about the 19-year-old prospect, Fry has revealed. He said the Blues’ representatives came to watch their on-loan goalkeeper Lucas Bergstrom in action but were left impressed by Edwards.
However, he was quick to add that Chelsea have not made a bid yet, later stressing that it will need a ‘big bid’ to convince them to sell the highly-rated defensive prodigy.
“I’ve had conversations with people at Chelsea who are in the know and who would be involved in any decision-making,” Fry told Peterborough Today. “They came to watch Lucas, but they were taken by Ronnie. They haven’t made a bid yet, but there are three weeks until the transfer window closes. They certainly like him.”
“Virtually the entire Premier League know about Ronnie and it’s interesting to see members of his England Under 19 team attracting attention now. Chelsea signed one last week and Southampton have just made a big bid for another of the players [Liam Delap]. I have had big clubs asking to be kept informed if anyone does bid for Ronnie.”
“Our position on Ronnie remains the same. It’s going to have to be a big bid to get him and we would try and make sure he was sent straight back to us. We don’t want to break up what I believe is the strongest squad in terms of depth in my 26 years at the club. We’ve been turning bids down right, left and centre all summer.”
Edwards currently has three years left on his contract with Peterborough United. It will be interesting to see if Chelsea follow up with their interest in the 19-year-old English defensive prodigy as they look to lay down a plan for the long-term future at Stamford Bridge.
