Andy Barcham, Johnny Ertl and James Dunne have all been left out of Paul Cook's squad ahead of Pompey's pre-season trip to Portugal.
Barcham is reportedly in talks with AFC Wimbledon and that comes as no surprise with the injury-prone winger now seen surplus to requirements following the arrivals of Kal Naismith, Kyle Bennett and Gary Roberts. On his day, Barcham could tear teams apart but unfortunately "his days" were few and far between and therefore it's unlikely Pompey fans will miss him too much.
The News is also reporting that talks are ongoing between the club and Ertl over his future. The 32-year-old has a year left to run on his deal but barely saw any game time last season and is even more unlikely to play this season. Therefore, it may be beneficial for both parties if the Austrian mutually cancelled his contract and looked for a new club and that is something a gentleman like Johnny would do.
Leaving Dunne out of the squad is slightly perplexing given that he was one of Pompey's better players last season (although that isn't saying much) but given his injury problems and the quality of some of his performances since his return from the long-term problem he had at the tail end of last year, Cook may not believe he is the same player.
Having said that, Dunne's partner is pregnant and he may well be staying home just for that reason. Not only that, but James is the only real defensive midfielder in the squad and Cook would be silly to get rid of him, especially as his supposed team-mate/replacement Michael Doyle hasn't travelled to Portugal either.
And finally, whilst it may seem unbelieveable, there has been a rumour bubbling recently about Matt Tubbs possibly being sold to Wimbledon. Granted, it has come more from their end than ours but this has been doing the rounds for the last week or so and it won't disappear.
It would surely be ridiculous for Cook to let League Two's top scorer go but perhaps he believes that Tubbs won't fit into his 4-2-3-1 system as he doesn't play the lone striker role very well? Pompey have also been linked with Leyton Orient's Dave Mooney who stands at 6' 2'' and could possibly perform better than Tubbs up front on his own.
Stranger things have happened in football but most people would be surprised if Tubbs moved anywhere, let alone Wimbledon, during this summer but this is the kind of rumour that "silly season" thrives on.
Someone will claim that Theirry Henry is signing for Pompey tomorrow...