After finishing eighth and winning the FA Cup, Portsmouth fans might be feeling that a similar season would be grand. Not their goalkeeper however…
[Read the rest of this entry »]

Reports are emerging that Portsmouth are in talks with Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan over the sale of one of Pompey’s best performers of the 2007/2008 season. [Read the rest of this entry »]

After learning his lesson that buying solely African talent will leave you sparse come the African Cup of Nations, Harry Redknapp has continued his trend of buying top English talent.

After sealing recent deals for Jermaine Defoe, Peter Crouch and Glen Little, Harry Redknapp is turning his eye to England and Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips:

At the moment we like him, he is a good player but he belongs to Chelsea.

We have spent some money on Peter Crouch, so the situation is that we have two other options but Shaun Wright-Phillips is a terrific player.

Any transfer of Wright-Phillips would represent a considerable loss for Chelsea. They paid £22 million to Manchester City for his services in 2005, and it is unlikely that Portsmouth would go higher than £15 million.

If Chelsea were to allow Wright-Phillips to move, it would increase speculation that Robinho is on the way to Stamford Bridge from Real Madrid. The Brazilian is mainly used as a second striker but can play on the wing, or big Phil Scolari could move to a Manchester United-style attacking formation with less dependancy on wingers and more second strikers.

A move to Portsmouth could be very good for Wright-Phillips, who has seen England team-mates David James, Sol Campbell, Glen Johnson and Jermaine Defoe reignite their domestic and international careers at Fratton Park.

I think it would be great for Wright-Phillips, Portsmouth and English football if he were to move to the South Coast. He would get more game time, improving his sharpness for international football and it would also see a possible Portsmouth line-up with 8 or more Englishmen.

Would any Pompey fans want this move? Would Chelsea fans happily see the back of Wright-Phillips?

Harry Redknapp has been looking to boost his squad ahead of Portsmouth’s first assault on European opponents, and has finally sealed a deal to give his side more firepower.

Israeli teenager Ben Sahar has joined the Fratton Park outfit on a six-month loan deal from Stamford Bridge. Having previously been on loan at teams like Qpr and Sheffield Wednesday, the 18-year-old will have to step up to compete in the Premiership and the UEFA Cup.

He now joins players like Jermaine Defoe, David Nugent and Kanu in jostling for the striking berths on the South Coast:

I’m ready for the challenge of being part of such a big club, like Portsmouth.

I want to be part of it and to show that I deserve to be here.

Although only having Championship and Carling Cup experience in England, Sahar has been a fully-fledged international since 17, and recently played against England. This means that he has faced some tough, talented, experienced opposition before, putting him in good stead for the UEFA Cup, a competition which Sahar admits was key in his move:

It was a factor. We have seen Portsmouth are a great team who can win trophies.

They are now in Europe and that will be a big challenge as well.

How much we can expect from a teenager who only scored 3 goals in 21 Championship games last season is yet to be seen, but much has been said of the player who has yet to show his true potential. Perhaps he can do it at Fratton Park, but to expect him to explode would be foolish. I remember Jérémie Aliadière being talked up a lot at 18…

Fa Cup-winning manager Harry Redknapp has admitted he is looking to sign Reading’s England international left-back.

Nicky Shorey, who won his first England cap against Brazil last year, is high on Pompey’s shopping list and, following Reading’s relegation to the Championship, could be close to a cut-price move to Fratton Park.

The move would be good for both sides. Pompey look to expand a squad that’s left with 3 players and a ball-boy whenever African international matches are played. Whereas, Shorey can get back in a successful team and perhaps push into Fabio Capello’s England squads. Redknapp told the Reading Evening Post:

Shorey is a player I like. He’s a good player and a good footballer. We’re looking for players who would give us something a bit different and he would do that.

Shorey was linked to Newcastle and West Ham last season, with Reading turning down a bid from the latter, but following the Royals relegation, the 27-year-old’s wages are likely to lead to his reluctant departure.

Pompey prepare for their first ever season in Europe and Harry Redknapp knows he needs a larger squad capable of challenging for honours:

He would give us something different to Hermann (Hreidarsson). Having said that, Hermann did a fantastic job for us and was brilliant for me. But we are going to need a squad and we are going to need cover.

We are going to be playing more games than ever next season and it’s going to be a lot tougher for us.