Peterborough United make transfer decision on Chesterfield loanee

The left-back has been on loan at the Spireites since January and impressed until he suffered a knee injury in March. The 24-year-old is back available now and could play a part in the play-offs if needed.

Sparkes made a positive impact early on with his diligent defending and his ability to get forward and provide numerous crosses per game caught the eye.

Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson gave an indication that Sparkes’ time at the League One club was over when he allowed him to leave on loan earlier this year, saying: "I had a chat with Jack a couple of weeks ago and it was an honest conversation. Sometimes signings don't work out as well as you would hope. We wanted to go in a different direction in that position.”

Posh have now confirmed their retained list following the end of the 2024/2025 regular season and Sparkes has been transfer-listed despite having two more years left on his contract. He signed a three-year deal last summer after after joining from Portsmouth for a fee.

Sparkes won the League One title with Pompey in 2024 and was promoted from League Two with Exeter City in 2022 and he may yet add another success to his CV if the Blues can triumph in the play-offs the coming weeks.

Peterborough have also made a decision on former Spireite Kabongo Tshimanga, with the club confirming that the striker has been released. Posh bought Tshimanga from Town for £250,000 in January 2023 but the move did not work out for him. However, he has had a successful loan spell at Swindon Town this season, scoring 13 goals.