Ins:
Glen Johnson (Chelsea - Loan)
David Thompson (Wigan - Free)
Sol Campbell (Arsenal - Free)
David James (Manchester City - £1,200,000)
Kanu (West Brom - Free)
Ognjen Koroman (Terek Grozny - Loan)
Manuel Fernandes (Benfica - Loan: Could be £7,000,000)
Andy Cole (Manchester City - £500,000)
Niko Kranjcar (Hajduk Split - £3,500,000 reported)
Rudolphe Douala Mbela (Sporting CP - Loan: Loan fee reportedly £650,000)
Reported Total Spending: £5,850,000
Outs:
Gregory Vignal (Lens - Free)
Aliou Cisse (Released)
Sander Westerveld (Almeria - Free)
John Viafara (Southampton - Undisclosed)
Collins Mbesuma (Maritimo - Loan)
Andrea Guatelli (Released)
Vincent Pericard (Stoke - Free)
Andres D'Alessandro (Real Zaragoza - Wolfsburg Loan Return)
Wayne Routledge (Fulham - Tottenham Loan Return)
Azar Karadas (Benfica - Loan Return)
Salif Diao (Liverpool - Loan Return)
Emanuel Olisadebe (Panathinaikos - Loan Return)
Hayden Foxe (Leeds - Free)
Gary Silk (Notts County - Free)
Liam Horsted (Released)
Brian Priske (Club Brugge - Undisclosed)
Svetoslav Todorov (Wigan - Loan)
Total Ins: 10 Total Outs: 17
That's a hell of a lot of players!
Starting with the outs: Vignal, Westerveld, Viafara and Priske are the Perrin signings that have gone for good. Vignal, Westerveld and Viafara are going to screw up in France, Spain and Southampton respectively but I'll state again that we should have kept hold of Priske, especially considering Glen Johnson is injured at the moment. I'm sure he'll be a great success in Belgium. Collins Mbesuma is the other signing of the Perrin era who has gone, but only on loan mind you! I will eat my arm if we ever see him in a Pompey shirt again though, he can go and "get fit" in Portugal!
Azar Karadas, Wayne Routledge, Salif Diao and Andres D'Alessandro have all left the club after their loan spells. Karadas, as much as he tried, just wasn't good enough and the same could be said for Diao. As for Olisadebe we will never know what he could do after an injury ruled him out of the rest of last season. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't try to loan Routledge again but then I suppose we can't offer him first team football now like Fulham can. I don't want to talk about the D'Alessandro situation. This article will go on forever otherwise!
Cisse, Guatelli, Silk and Horsted weren't going to see any action outside of the reserves so it's probably best that they left for pastures new. I do thank Cisse for his contributions though and he could be a real solid player for a Championship side. I think Harry believes that the club has passed by Hayden Foxe and Vincent Pericard and whilst I'll agree with Foxe I'm still not sure about Pericard. Maybe his injury problems made Harry think twice about giving him a new contract but he seems to be doing well at Stoke. Both Foxe and Pericard deserve a good deal of credit for serving us so well during our promotion winning season and I wish them very well in the Championship.
Finally, Toddy has gone on loan to Wigan. What I think about this move is for another article but I will just say that Wigan will probably be seen as a second team for some Pompey fans as they now have the Bulgarian to add to Arjan De Zeeuw as former Pompey heroes. It's an unpopular move, but there could be logic to it.
As for our players in, we certainly have brought in a variety of talent to the club. It's as if Harry has acted like a kid in a pick'n'mix shop!
David James and Sol Campbell have done excellently since joining and although I am aware it's early days and James could drop clangers and Sol could go missing, these two could be the bargains of the summer as long as their focus and concentration stays at 100%. Glen Johnson also looked like a better player than Priske until he got injured, here's hoping he makes a quick recovery.
David Thompson looks like he can be a good squad player for us if he avoids injury. He's a tenacious character on the field who chips in with the odd goal or two and is never afraid to get stuck in. His off-pitch character can only do well for team spirit too. Kanu has had a great start to his Pompey career and has served up a big slice of humble pie to the fans that cried "past it!" and "useless!" and here's hoping his skill, hold up play and finishing will continue. We shouldn't get too carried away by his great start as Geoff Horsfield topped the scoring charts at the end of August last season and he ended up finishing that season in the Championship!
Koroman had a good world cup and showed flashes of quality for us when he wasn't injured and he will bring some much needed width to the team. Manuel Fernandes will probably be our most interesting signing of the summer. Will he live up to the hype when he's finally fit? If he does, we have a gem and if not, back to Benfica he goes without shelling £7 million out for him. We can't lose on this one really.
As for those who signed for us in the summer, Andy Cole could be an astute purchase. At 34, he is in the twilight of his career but a player like him has always known where the goal is and his goalscoring record at club level speaks for itself. He is a similar player to Toddy and even if he doesn't produce the goods, at least he can't score against us like he always does!
Niko Kranjcar is said to be one of the best players to come out of Croatia for a long time. Last season he was playing for Hajduk Split but wasn't really living up to his potential. A fan of the club says that he has a great pass and free kick but was lazy and didn't seem to care. However during the World Cup he started to get fitter and put in some promising displays for his country, especially against Brazil. Since the World Cup he is said to be more "mobile" than last season and is now willing to run for the cause, get into the box and create chances for others. Kranjcar has a lot of hype surrounding him after many promising performances as a teenager, similar to Andres D'Alessandro, although he prefers to play in the centre of midfield. If he has the same impact as Andres had on Pompey last year, Kranjcar is going to be a very exciting player indeed.
I don't know much about Rudolphe Douala Mbela. He's a left footed winger with plenty of speed which suggests he will solve the left midfield problem we have had (although Taylor has done a great job there.) Douala is bound to be first choice so will Taylor be dropped? If he isn't, will he be pushed to left-back? And if that happens will Stefanovic be moved to centre to take Primus' place? As captain, I cannot see Stefanovic being dropped but the way Primus is playing with Campbell it seems stupid to break up that very promising central defensive partnership. It's a problem Harry has to solve, but a positive one!
Our squad now has been transformed since the relegation fodder of the beginning of the summer. We should be setting our sights higher than 17th with the team we now have at our disposal. Of course, nothing should be taken for granted and we could be considered outside candidates but now, with the quality we have added to the squad coupled to the great start we've had, Pompey could be looking at their best season since the 50's!
There could be great times ahead for this football club, we are finally showing true signs that we're moving forward.