Darragh MacAnthony reacts to reports Aston Villa and Sunderland want Peterborough’s Jack Marriott

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Aston Villa, Sunderland and Queens Park Rangers reportedly all want Jack Marriott, who has been sensational in League One this season.

Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony has taken to Twitter to comment on reports coming out of the Daily Mail that Aston Villa, Sunderland and Queens Park Rangers all want to sign Jack Marriott after his brilliant start to life at London Road.

Marriott joined the Posh in the summer, but has taken virtually no time to settle in. The 23-year-old has scored 17 goals in 30 appearances for the club in all competitions this season.

And it appears that Peterborough may face a battle to hold onto the forward in the future, with the Daily Mail reporting that the Villans, Black Cats and Hoops are all considering potentially making a move to bring Marriott to the Championship.

The Mail adds that the second tier trio are hoping that Peterborough would be willing to sell their top scorer for £2.5 million – but MacAnthony has put to bed any suggestion that such a deal would be possible when he was asked about the rumours by a supporter.

The Peterborough chairman admitted that he did not know whether the likes of Villa, Sunderland and QPR were preparing to make a move for the forward at some point in the future – but insisted that any talk of selling for £2.5 million would be out of the question.

Judging by MacAnthony’s response, it would hardly be a surprise if the trio of sides decided to consider other targets. All three have certainly done more modest business in recent times and it seems unlikely that they will be spending huge amounts of money in January unless they make a significant amount of money from any sales.

However, on the other hand, they may also be keen to find out what price MacAnthony currently wants as, based on what Marriott has shown so far this season, his price is likely to rise considerably before the curtain comes down on the campaign, so spending a little more than they would like to next month may be a gamble worth considering.