Barry Fry has described his new signing George Boyd as the outstanding talent in non-league football. Fry, now director of football at Peterborough, has finally got his man after two previous bids failed. Boyd joins Posh on Monday after nearly four and a

Barry Fry has described his new signing George Boyd as the outstanding talent in non-league football.

Fry, now director of football at Peterborough, has finally got his man after two previous bids failed.

Boyd joins Posh on Monday after nearly four and a half years at Boro.

Fry said: "I personally think he is the best player in the Conference.

"George has got outstanding ability and he is a good investment.

"If he develops the way he has done so far, hopefully everyone will reap the rewards in the future.

"Mark Stimson is a top banana and has brought George's game on.

"Where he plays depends on the manager, Keith Alexander.

"He has played down the middle for Stevenage and the more he gets of the ball, the better."

Boyd will be joined at London Road at the end of the month by the Dagenham and ex-Arlesey Town pair of Craig Mackail-Smith and Shane Blackett.

Other young talents from the Conference have also been recruited by Posh in recent months.

Fry added: "I don't think it's a gamble taking non-league players anymore.

"Craig and Shane impressed me when I first saw them play for Arlesey and their progress has continued while at Dagenham."

Boro chairman Phil Wallace explained the club's decision to sell their prize asset.

Wallace said: "We promised George all last season that if the right offer came in and he wanted to go, we wouldn't stand in his way.

"There's only so many times you can say that to a young player who wants to play in the League.

"We've turned enquiries away since July 2005 - we can't keep denying a youngster his chance of playing in the League or nobody would ever sign for us again.

"Peterborough have made George a fantastic offer which he wants to accept and they've met our valuation so we have to keep our promise, allow him to move on and test himself against League opposition.

"The board and management are unanimous that this is the right and proper thing to do, both for the player and the club.

"He's a very talented player who we expect to play much higher, so the key point for us once the fee was agreed was to negotiate a significant sell-on so that we can share in his future.

"We've had George with us since he was 16 and will now continue to have a vested interest in his career.