O'Hara could stay/Boateng regrets

It looks like Harry Redknapp is willing to do us, and Paul Hart, a favour by extending the loan spell of Jamie O'Hara beyond January - as far as Peter Storrie is concerned this was going to be the case anyway...

Clearly we want to keep O'Hara, and the noises being made suggest that this is clearly something that he wants as well as he knows that he will not get a look-in at Spurs, will he?

So long as he is not down to the 'bare bones' then Redknapp has told The News that he would be willing to do business if everyone is happy: 'we'll wait and see on Jamie.

'If we're okay and we've got plenty of bodies and Jamie wants to stay and they want to keep him on loan, then something could be done.

'We'll have a chat. If I can help anyone, I'll help Paul Hart.'

I think it is pretty safe to say we will be seeing Jamie at Pompey until the end of the season, at least...

Although, and as our friends at Vital Spurs point out, this makes for an interesting development regarding Giovani dos Santos.

Should we extend the loan deal of O'Hara the only possible way we could sign dos Santos - who the Spurs fans seem to really, really rate - would be to buy him, as we could not loan him in from Spurs as well, and they think it would take a very big bid for such a talented footballer.

We would need to sign O'Hara, or sign dos Santos, as we could not sign both - well not on-loan anyway...

Another player that he spoke about was Kevin-Prince Boateng, 'revealing' that he did not want to sell the midfielder: 'when I came in Boateng was injured, I think he'd had problems and they'd loaned him out.

'I was only listening to what other people were telling me about his character, the way he was behaving off the field, and it wasn't painting a very good picture to be honest.

'But when I looked at him play I thought "this kid can really play".

'To be honest, I wasn't keen to sell him. I think it was a good offer and the chairman obviously felt that maybe he needed to move on for his career.'

In something of a rarity these days I will actually defend Redknapp and say that I believe him when he says this.

Many will think he is 'just saying this' as the guy is doing the business for us and he would not want to be seen as 'letting someone get away', but I know for a fact - with something that Chix's research found out - that Boateng had been a player that Redknapp had spoken about many years ago and had seen his potential.

The thoughts that it appears the Spurs board wanted shot of him also tie in with what I was told back along about the deal, and shared with Vital Spurs in my post-match interview, on the issue. We had 'apparently' looked at the guy more than once although there were 'said' to be some concerns about how he would fit into our side, with some other players we had.

So, all in all I am actually in agreement with him here, and feel that his thoughts that he did not want to lose the player we picked up for a 'bargain' £4m are about right...

PLAY UP POMPEY!

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