Yakubu
He's had his work permit application turned down by the Home Office after failing to play in the necessary number of international matches, but in all honesty this was always expected. Even so it's just a formality - once Boro have argued the case that the only reason he didn't fufill requirements is because of injury, not to mention self-imposed exile from the national side after allegations about his "night-time activities" as last year's African Cup of Nations, he'll be free to complete his £7.5m move.
Carlton Cole
According to Reggie, "We've not got a deal with Cole yet. Maybe we can take him but we're not sure at the moment." Apparently he's going to take the weekend to think about a possible £2m move but it seems certain the young striker will be moving on one way or another - the only factor is "where", rather than "when".
David Unsworth
His agent has scuppered any possibility of a move to Ipswich over the issue of wages and also that he'd rather stay in the Premiership if possible. Having said that, Harry Redknapp is apparently keen on taking him to St Mary's and Mr Agent admitted, "That would interest us. One of the main reasons he came to Pompey was Harry" - although - "there have been no conversations at all at this time." He'll be off by Monday then.
Ricardo Fuller
As reported on here last week, Sunderland are still firmly in the chase for Fuller and are now in the driving seat to secure his signature. There's a strike force to be fearful of; Jon Stead and Ricardo Fuller, two goals between them last season. Pompey are keen to tie this in with their own attempt to sign Julio Arca who is keen on a move to Fratton Park. A cash and player deal, in the style being discussed with Linvoy, certainly seems a possibility. Speaking of which...
Damien Francis
Norwich, despite their protestations just yesterday about how their players aren't for sale and they don't want to do business with us, have now admitted that £1.5m and Linvoy Primus for Francis wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. Even so, we're still trying to tempt them with a straight out £2m - although apparently if the deal falls through then we might be after Salif Diao, a player we've been linked with at least fifty thousand times before.
Tore Andre Flo
With his contract recently having expired at Siena, Flo has been linked with Wigan and, er, QPR. His agent has thrown a new name into the pot by suggesting that it was a Premiership club in the South of England, "not far from London". That really does narrow it down to just us to be completely honest, but hopefully it's all just talk in an attempt to get someone else to put a bid in - I really don't think he's up to Premiership standard these days.
Niang
A Senegalese striker who plays for Strasbourg, Niang is being tracked by both Marseille and West Ham. His eagerness to move to a bigger club or bigger league and the obvious French connection means this rumour was always going to be inevitable, and we'd certainly be an alluring prospect. But Marseille do have the possibility of UEFA Cup football to offer (they're in the Intertoto) and their new manager used to work with Niang at Metz, so there's still work to be done.
Expect things to get more frenzied in the near future as, according to our illustrious leader Perrin;
"We have some possibilities with foreign players, there's an Argentine and a couple of French strikers. We have many possibilities but we don't want to talk about that because we are in negotiations."
What with most footballer's contracts expiring tomorrow and the team returning for pre-season training too, activity is certainly going to be stepping up a gear over the next week or two.