IPSWICH Town’s hopes of finally signing Peterborough’s George Boyd could have moved a step closer after Posh boss Darren Ferguson said he expected his prized asset to leave this week.

With the ‘emergency’ loan window opening on Saturday, Championship sides can now sign loanees for a 93-day period.

Given that timeframe, new signings probably won’t take effect until later in the week but Ferguson has admitted he doesn’t expect to have Boyd in his squad for Saturday’s trip to Burnley.

Ipswich had a bid for the 26-year-old accepted in the final days of the summer transfer window but the deal fell down on personal terms.

But when asked whether he still expected Boyd to join Town or another Championship club, Ferguson told BBC Cambridgeshire Sport: “I think so, I think it has been publicly stated that this is the situation.

“He turned down a move (to Ipswich) so we will see if anything materialises. At the end of the day, George was offered a new contract by us and turned it down.

“He made it clear he doesn’t want to be at the football club at the end of the season – that is not a criticism, it is just the situation he is in.

“We want to keep our best players, but if they don’t want to, we will move them on accordingly.”

Town remain favourites to land the left-sided attacker on loan, with a view to a permanent deal, but the public nature of the pursuit would have alerted other sides in the Championship.

Meanwhile, Southend United’s Bilel Mohsni has called on Ipswich to make a quick decision over whether they want to sign him on loan.

After Mohsni scored, and starred, for Town’s Under-21s last week during his trial at the club, the 25-year-old defender-cum-attacker told the Southend Echo: “I am waiting to find out what will happen and I’m due to hold talks with Ipswich soon so I’m hoping something can be agreed.

“Hopefully it can be done quite quickly too because I want to be playing again.”