Who is likely to fly the Portsmouth net?

It is very troubling times for Portsmouth indeed. Not only do they find themselves bottom of the Premier League but it looks more and more likely that the South Coast club will have to sell more players in the January transfer window to prevent the club becoming the first top flight club from going into administration. The club has accrued over £60million worth of debt and has been late for the third time in paying its playing staff’s wages. The Premier League has also had to step in by paying £7million of Portsmouth’s Sky TV money directly to Tottenham, Watford and Chelsea who are owed transfer money by the debt ridden club. Chief Executive Peter Storrie has now also indicated the likelihood of more player sales:

If the way to keep this club alive is to sell a couple of players again, we will have to do that – but it will be an owner’s decision. It will look doom and gloom but what is the other side of that? The other side of that is if you do not sell, then you could well be going into administration.

There were protests against the owner Ali Al-Faraj at the FA Cup Third Round tie against Coventry City last week and more are planned soon but Storrie has claimed the owners have put in between £10-12million into the club:

The new owners have come in almost overnight and to be fair they have put a lot of money in the club. They thought they were in a strong position to replace bank finance and bring in a major new investor that was going to come in and be involved but those two things have not happened and although they are working on doing that, time is catching up with them in terms of the debts and the money that is needed to run a Premier League football side.

The lack of new investment means that immediate running costs for the club are not being met and this means players will have to be sold in the interim if new finance is not found. But who will go? The most likely first exit from the club is Younes Kaboul. The French defender is apparently nearing a deal to return to France with Lyon for £5million. Such a deal will no doubt ease the financial crisis at Pompey but other players will certainly have to leave too.

David James is another high profile name who will most likely leave and the constant rumours have been that he will once again join up with former boss Harry Redknapp at Spurs. Other players such as Nadir Belhadj and John Utaka will also be allowed to leave for they are both high wage earners and could command good transfer fees. Algerian winger Belhadj has been linked with a whole host of Premier League clubs including Tottenham, Blackburn and Everton, and could give some much needed extra cash for the cash-strapped South coast club.

One player who will not be leaving though is Kevin-Prince Boateng. He was only signed from Tottenham for £4million in the summer but his excellent performances for Pompey have seen him linked with a return to his native Germany with Borussia Dortmund. The Premier League have confirmed though that the player cannot move clubs again as under FIFA rules a player cannot play for more than two clubs in a season. Boateng has already played for both Portsmouth and Spurs.

The consequential problem from such sales though is that Avram Grant will be left with a skeleton size squad. It might be a double whammy for Pompey though as the transfer embargo enforced on the team in October will prevent Grant from purchasing replacements after the player exodus. Jamie O’Hara’s loan from Tottenham expires on January 15th and he will not be allowed to return to the South coast if the embargo is not lifted. Grant may have to rely on young players as he fights to prevent the club from being relegated from the Premier League. It will be a very difficult task.