Report: AFC Fylde rejected 'significant' midfielder bid from Blackpool league rival amid Portsmouth and Stockport interest

That’s according to our sister title, The Peterborough Telegraph, who are off the opinion it was Posh’s advances to lure the midfielder away from Mill Farm which were turned down by the National League side.

Teenager O’Kane has attracted much interest since breaking into the Fylde first team last season.

Championship new-boys Portsmouth and recently-crowned League Two winners Stockport are believed to be huge admirers of the Coasters youth product. Yet it appears that it was Darren Ferguson who was willing to back up his interest with a firm offer for the 19-year-old.

Peterborough have had great success in recent years of picking up non-league players and turning them into established Football League players. Ephron Mason-Clark and Ronnie Edwards are just two of the more recent examples, with Mason-Clark joining Coventry for an undisclosed big-money fee in January and Edwards signing for Southampton for another profitable bit of business in the summer.

And it’s a transfer strategy the London Road outfit kept to during the most recent transfer window, with striker Chris Conn-Clarke arriving from Altrincham.

O’Kane appears to have been someone who could easily have made that move, too. However, if Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony’s comments on his latest The Hard Truth podcast are anything to go by, then Fylde had no intention of letting their rising star leave on the cheap.

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MacAnthony said: “We had a go at a gem signing, but his club were asking too much for a player who has not even been in their team very often. But that’s fine. They are entitled to do that.”

The Coasters handed O’Kane a new two-year deal during the summer as EFL sides weighed up moves.

O’Kane featured 19 times for the first team last season and has racked up five this term, with his latest outing coming from the bench against Yeovil on Saturday.

Speaking in July, head coach Chris Beech said: “Taelor is a brilliant asset for AFC Fylde. Ever since he started training with the first team, you could see his potential and talent and whilst it’s important to keep young players grounded and progressing, we all know the talent that Taelor possesses.

“He deserves his new deal for what he has achieved over a short period of time, and it’s crucial for the club to keep ourselves in strong positions as far as our assets are concerned.

“His driving runs and tenacity within the midfielder areas are very important to the way we play and the fact he can chip in with goals too shouldn’t be underestimated, I’m very keen for Taelor to stamp his authority on both the team and games and I think we’re seeing that.

“He’s done well in pre-season, scoring twice in six games and we’ll be looking to help him add to that before the first game of the season. You can already see the improvement in his game; now he is playing with a settled mind, and his future is sorted.

“Taelor is a brilliant player and a brilliant person. He’s a testament to his family but also to our academy set up which helped support his progress as he established himself in the first team.”