Derby County and Nottingham Forest have been ruled out of the race to sign Peterborough United winger Marcus Maddison.

Both sides have been heavily linked with Maddison and his London Road team mate, Jack Marriott, but as per the Derbyshire Telegraph, Director of Football Barry Fry has confirmed that neither are in talks to sign the former Gateshead man.

Maddison had a wonderful season in League One, scoring eight goals and reaching 14 assists, but Fry says although two Championship clubs are looking at signing the 24-year old, the East Midland's rivals are not amongst them.

Fry did confirm that both clubs are regularly on the phone to Peterborough manager Steve Evans, but the subject is more often than not Jack Marriott.

“I spoke to (Derby manager) Frank Lampard and his father (Frank Lampard senior) at the play-off finals, which was before he had got the Derby job, although it was common knowledge he would be appointed.

"We talked about a lot of players but Harry Redknapp had told him to keep an eye on our club because of our habit of finding goal scorers.

“Forest say they are keen on Jack but they have made no offer yet despite their manager (Aitor Karanka) being very friendly with our manager (Steve Evans). They talk all the time and Jack is a regular subject."

The Verdict

Peterborough have a very open and media friendly culture when it comes to transfers, they're never afraid to talk about teams and players in very succinct ways.

It fits with their strategy of bringing in highly rated lower level players and turning them into profit, which is exactly what looks set to happen with Maddison and Marriott. It might not be in the East Midlands, but somewhere Marcus Maddison will be making a Championship impact next season.