Finnan and Mokoena Confirmed, Kanu Close

By: Andrew | July 31st, 2009

33 year-old Irish international Steve Finnan has officially signed a 1-year contract with Pompey. Finnan made just 3 starts for Espanyol this past year, yet made a number of appearances for Ireland in international play.

Coach Hart said of signing Finnan:

It whetted my appetite to think that we could get a player of Steve’s calibre here. He’s really looking forward to coming here and we’re looking forward to seeing him play.

At 33, Finnan joins an already aging squad. Here are the other members of Pompey’s 30+ club…

GK David James, 39 (as of August 1 — Happy Birthday)
DF Linvoy Primus, 36 in September
DF Hermann Hreidarsson, 35
DF Steve Finnan, 33
DF Sylvain Distin, 31 (will be 32 in December)
MF Angelos Basinas, 33
MF Papa Bouba Diop, 31
MF Hayden Mullins, 30
MF Richard Hughes, 30
ST Kanu, 31

On our current roster, with the inclusion of Finnan, Mokoena, and Kanu, 10 of our 21 players are at least 30 years old!

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Aaron “the Axe” Mokoena, who has been a Blue on everything but paper since May, joins the club on a 3-year term.

Coach Hart had these comments to make about the ex-Blackburn midfielder:

Aaron’s a strong player who bites in the tackle and he’s the sort of character we’re going to need in the coming months.
I watched him play for South Africa in the Confederations Cup over the summer and he did great.
He can play in defence or in midfield but I mostly see him as a midfielder. We’ve done extremely well to get him here. I’m really pleased that he’s joined.

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Portsmouth News reports that Kanu will be back for another year. The striker made just 5 starts for Pompey last year, mostly being played as a substitute, totaling 25 appearances for the club in 08-09. He scored 2 goals last season.

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Still waiting to see if we’re going to land the Croatian Sensation…

And new speculation that 33-year old Aussie striker, Mark Viduka, is heading to Pompey.

Also, Amr Zaki, Stephen Hunt, Antti Niemi, and Frederic Piquionne are all being mentioned as possible Pompey additions.

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We take on Guimaraes tonight in Portugal. Follow the action here