Possible Ins
Following Jamie Ashdown's injury that is said to keep him out for another two weeks Harry is after another 'keeper so we won't have to rely on Sander "blunder a game" Westerveld but more on him later. Harry has expressed interest in Mark Schwarzer since his failed attempt to sign Antti Niemi. Schwarzer asked for a transfer request from Middlesbrough and is an Aussie hero following his penalty shootout saves that put Australia into the World Cup at Uruguay's expense. He has been a dependant servant for Middlesbrough during his long stint there and would be a valuable addition to the squad as we will need someone of his experience for the upcoming relegation battle. Dean Keily of Charlton is another experienced goalie being linked should Schwarzer not arrive.
It has also been confirmed that Steffen Iversen has been training at Pompey. The Norwegian had a long spell a Spurs scoring plenty of goals for them and also had a spell at Wolves but wasn't so prolific. He is a different type of player to our other two signings but is he good enough and is he better than Todorov? It looks like we'll probably find out the hard way. Meanwhile other strikers to be linked are Dean Ashton; who is reportedly worth £8 million though in my opinion he is only worth half of that. Half a season in the Premiership surely cannot command a fee that high? Another striker that was linked to us was Peter Lovenkrands but he apparently doesn't want to come here.
There's more! The Wayne "Scummer" Bridge rumour won't disappear. Can you really see him playing in a Portsmouth shirt after all the stick we have given him (and he has given us in return)? I'll eat my hat if this one happens. Julio Arca has stressed that he will stay at Sunderland until the end of the season in their vain attempt to keep them in the Premier League so for now that is a no go. Nigel Quashie is also reportedly set to stay at Southampton (thank god!) and Harry has also revealed he has his eyes set on two Tottenham players though he smartly won't reveal who.
Possible Outs
Sander Westerveld was reportedly disillusioned with life at Pompey claiming it was boring and that he considered visiting a shrink. Sander has since denied this however the report must have come somewhere. An agent from Feyenoord trying to stir things perhaps? Westerveld has been linked to the dutch giants recently so it might be an agent trying to unsettle him or perhaps some journalist looking to make a quick buck. Personally I don't think he will go anywhere as if he were to leave after we brang in another goalkeeper and then that one got injured we;d only be left with Andrea Guatelli. Hmmmm...
Harry has also said about getting rid of players surplus to requirements. So Collins Mbesuma, John Viafara, Zvonomir Vukic, Gregory Vignal and perhaps even Dario Silva should be looking over their shoulders.
No doubt things will hot up this week so watch out for the next episode of Transfer Tales!