Peterborough have slapped a £3m asking price on their forward Siriki Dembele, according to reports in the local media.

The 24-year-old handed in a transfer request earlier this month but Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony has revealed that the player has now agreed to stay until the end of the season:

“He wants to play higher which is fair enough, but I doubt it will happen in January so the best thing for Siriki to do is stay here, play out of his skin for the rest of the season and then I will help him get a move if he still wants it. If he carries on playing like he has in the last couple of matches he could pick up a salary of £20k-£30k a week just as Ivan Toney did last year.”

“There is no money about at the moment, but there could be in the summer. The rest of the players are right behind Siriki. He has started to terrorise defences again and if he keeps going like this he will cement his position as the best player in League One. The sky will be the limit for him then.”

Celtic were linked with Dembele in December, but it is now claimed that Rangers, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday and Derby County are the teams currently most interested in the striker.

A number of English Premier League clubs, such as Wolves, Fulham and Crystal Palace were also said to be monitoring the player but, like Celtic, their interest may have cooled due to his recent form.

Dembele has not scored in the league since October, with his only other goal coming in the FA Cup third-round win over Portsmouth ten days ago. If he is going to live up to MacAnthony’s tag of being the “best player” in his division, he needs to show a marked improvement over the coming weeks and months.