Cardiff City have bid rejected for Peterborough's Ricky-Jade Jones

Posh boss Darren Ferguson has spoken out about the Bluebirds' interest in the forward

Cardiff City have had a bid rejected for Peterborough's Ricky-Jade Jones.

Yesterday Omer Riza confirmed that talks had been held over the potential signing of the forward, who is thought to be one of the fastest players in the world.

Jones is out of contract at the end of the campaign, but Cardiff are desperate to address their chronic lack-of-pace problem in this window and have identified the 22-year-old, who has been clocked at 22.3mph, as someone they want.

Ahead of Posh's FA Cup clash with Everton, manager Darren Ferguson said of Cardiff's interest: “We have turned down their bid. Whether or not they will come back I don’t know, but this will be just the start of a lot of interest in him.

“We have to remember he is out of contract at the end of this season and if he went abroad he could leave for nothing and we can’t have players like that leaving without a fee.

“We have offered him a fantastic new contract, but it has not been signed.”

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Jones, who can run the 100m in 10.9 seconds, has 35 goals and 11 assists in 175 Posh appearances and no doubt other teams will be casting their eye over a move, with Newcastle United having been reportedly interested in him last summer. Whether the Bluebirds win that race or stump up enough cash remains to be seen. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.

"There's been discussions regarding Ricky-Jade Jones and we will see how that progresses," Riza said yesterday. "I can't elaborate on deals or players coming in.

"At the moment, all we can say is that the discussions are taking place, obstacles are in the way which we've spoken about previously, which is whether players want to come to our club or whether we can afford to play for our club. Whether it's right for us to bring those players in and whether they'll be impactful. We have to make sure we get that right. But definitely the process has begun for three or four players to come in.

"There's a whole host of players we are looking at, in respect of pace in the top line, creativity and impact. He is one of a list of players we've spoken about."