Kwame Poku's future, contract status and £30m prediction amid Birmingham City transfer links

Kwame Poku once again put himself in the shop window on the biggest stage with another eye-catching performance as Peterborough United overcame Birmingham City at Wembley on Sunday. Poku and Posh beat Blues in the Vertu Trophy final, just days after their league meeting coincided with Blues returning to the Championship at the first time of asking.

Poku scored against Blues last week during that league meeting at London Road, which Blues prevailed 2-1 in, and generally delivered a performance which served as a reminder of his abilities right in front of the eyes of potential suitors.

While there remain jobs in hand - they can still become the most successful team of the EFL era in the remaining half dozen games - before the true celebrating can begin for the Blues players, Chris Davies and his coaching staff, those who dwell in the club hierarchy will have an eye on the developments in the summer, and how Blues go about strengthening their squad again.

Winger Poku himself has been linked previously - although, clearly, considering the talent he possesses, Blues would not be the only side in for the 23-year-old, who is London born but capped by Ghana. Poku, who has had to contend with injury issues this season, has impressively still managed to contribute 12 goals and eight assists in the space of 25 appearances.

It would appear, too, that the Posh board are resigned to losing Poku this summer; he signed a four-year contract when joining from Colchester United in 2021, but that deal is due to expire this summer and there are no obvious signs at this stage that Poku is close to agreeing fresh terms. Any interested clubs will, though, have to pay a compensation fee via a tribunal because he is under 24 until August.

Poku has already been the subject of offers from teams in leagues above; last summer chairman Darragh MacAnthony confirmed that he had spurned the advances of Luton Town, who had themselves been in the Premier League the season before and who had just sold Chiedozie Ogbene to Ipswich Town. They were after a replacement but were rejected.

"There are many things a tribunal takes into account when setting a transfer fee,” MacAnthony said on his Hard Truth Podcast. “The offers we have already had are part of that as are his appearances, his goals, the contract offer we have made him and what we have paid out in transfer fees ourselves so we will still get millions and millions for him.

"We did make him a club record offer, but he knows it’s time for him to go to the next level. Kwame probably won’t go to the Premier League straight away, but he will get a high-end Championship club. He will be a Premier League star in the future and that next move will probably cost £30m.

"We spent £250k on him initially, plus half a million in add ons since then. He’s top drawer. He has everything, a great technique, pace and physicality.

"It will have been a pleasure to have him for four years, but he will leave with our best wishes. Fans should stop worrying about players leaving for better things as it’s the law of the jungle, the nature of the beast and new heroes will come in.”

Another team came calling in the transfer window at the beginning of 2025, while Poku was still sidelined, and again Posh were loathed to part with their asset. Instead they waved away the fresh interest and decided that they'd allow for an auction this coming summer if those parties had retained their interest.

“A Championship club tried to force a deal through for Kwame in January, but he was injured at the time and they didn’t offer anything like what we wanted," Fry revealed to the Peterborough Today recently.

"They were just trying to get ahead of the game as they knew there would be many more clubs after him in the summer. He is the best player in League One after all. Celtic and Rangers have been at most of our games this season, but I don’t believe Kwame will go to Scotland. He will more likely sign for a top end Championship club.”

Fry didn't identify Poku as the player in question but he has also previously confirmed that Blues retained an interest in one of the existing members of Peterborough's squad, having tried and failed to complete moves for three players last summer who all ended up making moves to the Championship and Premier League.

“We shouldn’t be on the same park, but we are and we’ve got a lot of talented players, as Birmingham City know because they tried to sign three of them and three of them went to different clubs," Fry said earlier this season. "Harrison Burrows went to Sheffield United, Ephron Mason-Clark went to Coventry and Ronnie Edwards went to Southampton. They’re still after one of mine but they’re going to have to cough up.”

Posh boss Darren Ferguson sung the praises of Poku earlier this year too, but echoed the views of the board - that it'd be increasingly difficult to envisage a scenario where Poku is lining up at London Road in League One at the beginning of next season, with offers via a tribunal set to be received.

“Kwame is just unplayable at the moment," Ferguson said in November. "I would hate to play against him. He needs to give someone else a chance of winning player of the month. They’ll have to rename it the Kwame Poku Trophy! The boy is unplayable at the moment, he’s just so good. He deserves all the plaudits and all the credit.

"That's why we had to keep him in the summer. There were offers for him and there will be more offers for him. We’re trying to keep him and have offered him a new contract. Me and the chairman are trying our best, but it will be very tough and you can see why. If you watch him, the stats don’t lie. I’m just enjoying working with the boy."

Blues placed plenty of emphasis in refreshing and strengthening their wide areas last summer; the likes of Siriki Dembele - who also made his name at Peterborough - Koji Miyoshi and Tyler Roberts left the club and Oliver Burke's loan ended. In their place they signed the likes of Scott Wright, Emil Hansson, retained Keshi Anderson and signed Ayumu Yokoyama, although the latter was loaned out himself in January.

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