Piquionne to Pompey, Nugent on the outs, and other news

The club, in what I have to assume was a move timed to quell fans’ growing disaffection with management, signs another 30-year old footballer, striker Frederic Piquionne.

Reviews are mixed of the former Les Gones player. Sky Sports rates him a 5.0, which means “Below-average- some faults, out-of-touch.” David Nugent, graded by the same scale, is a 5.9.

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On a side note, do these ratings mean anything to you?

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The club sure is “playing up” the importance of Piquionne to the public. The announcement posted on the OS praises the striker as being “renowned for his pace and power” and touts his lengthy record as a player. Here is a detailed player summary from GFDb.com.

It appears his glory days were played earlier this decade in Ligue 1. In his 2004-05 season with Saint-Etienne, he landed 11 goals on 36 games. Since then, he had 11 goals on 30 games split between Saint-Etienne and AS Monaco during the 2006-07 season. From 2007-08 he scored 7 goals on 26 starts with AS Monaco, and last season he started 6 games with Lyon, scoring 3 goals (including one during Lyon’s UEFA matchup with Fiorentina).

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Peter Storrie gushed over the striker, saying in Portsmouth Today:

‘We have him on loan but you could easily pay £5-6m without hesitating.’

‘Harry (Redknapp) and I tried to get him before but couldn’t get him out at the time. He was at St Etienne at the time and I sat in their club offices all day. We had agreed a deal to buy him but they couldn’t find a replacement. They were all day on the phone on transfer deadline day and it collapsed.’

‘As a club, we’ve always tracked him and he’s the type of player our fans will like. If you look at his career, he’s always had a very good scoring record. He had some issues last season in terms of playing and got a bit frustrated being on the bench, but finished the campaign in the team. He’s played in their four pre-season games and can go straight into the team against Rangers – subject to international clearance.’

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The acquisition of Piquionne, combined with the Pompey in Portugal fracas with teammate Marc Wilson involving a “lump of wood”, could signal the end of David Nugent’s stint at Pompey.

Storrie mentioned that the club has already received an offer, but refused to comment further. Reports claim that Stoke is the most likely destination for Mr. Nugent.

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In other news…

David James has reaffirmed that he will stay at Pompey. He shares the sentiments of the fans and supporters, stating that he understands that “it is going to be a hard season and (I) just hope we don’t get rid of anyone else.”

Despite his pledge of allegiance, rumors are still circulating about the possibility he will leave after we sign Antti Niemi. I’m just not ready to jump on the Niemi bandwagon.

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The Zaki loan deal could still potentially happen. However, there is not very encouraging news stemming from a Goal.com interview with the striker as he sums up the situation saying:

I am only focusing on Zamalek. I don’t know anything about Portsmouth as this issue is between my club and agent and Portsmouth.

The days are numbered, so news is surely to break soon regarding this, and all other transfers.

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A Soccernet report affirms that looks are still being given to Mark Viduka.

It didn’t sound like we were going to sign any more players after this week’s statements and to-and-fro amongst management. It is very, very difficult to find out what exactly it is that we are up to!

Category: Team News