Exclusive: Peterborough United in talks to sign ex-Huddersfield Town star | OneFootball

The Posh want to add more experience to their leaky defence.

Peterborough United are in talks with former Leeds United and Huddersfield Town defender Tom Lees, who is currently a free agent, Football League World understands.

The Posh were the worst side at keeping the ball out the back of their net in the whole of League One in the previous campaign, and Darren Ferguson's side evidenced some of these defensive frailties in their opening match of the season against Cardiff City, despite it taking two brilliant goals from Ruben Collwill and Ronan Kpakio to overcome Bradley Ihionvien's first-half penalty.

Barry Fry, the club's director of football, has taken steps to address these issues already this summer, with the signings of two new goalkeepers and a couple of other defensive options, but Peterborough want to add more depth to this part of the pitch.

Peterborough in talks to sign Tom Lees

FLW can exclusively reveal that the third-tier outfit are interested in signing ex-Huddersfield centre-half Lees, and that talks are already underway with the 34-year-old.

His age would make him a more unlikely signing for Peterborough, who are notorious for trying to spot young talent and snap them up before others do, but Lees, who started more than half of the Terriers' league contests last time out, could help them to secure up at the back.

The Leeds academy graduate has been out of contract since Town chose not to renew his deal earlier in the summer. He wasn't involved in any of the pre-season training camps and friendlies organised by the PFA, making it unlikely that he would be able to have an instant impact at Peterborough upon signing, if the talks that were revealed by FLW, come to an agreement.

Lees had reportedly been in talks with League Two club Harrogate Town earlier in the window, but nothing has come of the Sulphurites' interest.

Meanwhile, Ferguson revealed after the 2-1 defeat to Cardiff that he hopes the club's latest signing, Klaidi Lolos, will get minutes in their next league fixture against Luton Town.

Tom Lees would add a new element to Peterborough's side

Lees' experience could be a big help for an inexperienced Posh side. The majority of his career has been spent in the Championship, and had never actually played a game in League One prior to Huddersfield's relegation two seasons ago.

It wasn't too long before then that Lees was a key cog in the Terriers side that came third in the Championship and controversially lost in the play-off final to Nottingham Forest. That sort of understanding of the game and what a successful team looks like doesn't exist in many, if any, of the players that Ferguson currently has available to them.

The 34-year-old would instantly boost Peterborough's average age. The mean year of their starting XI against Cardiff was 22.7 - the second lowest in the division.

Amid some faint worries about a potential relegation battle, having someone with the defender's know-how around the club should make that scenario much less likely.