Pompey The New Chelsea?

On the face of it, of course not. The money of Gaydamak will never rival the money of the world's 10th richest man, Roman Abramovich. But when you look into certain aspects of the new 'Tsar' regimes, there is one similarity that is obvious to see, and this is in the transfer market, and the over inflated prices both clubs are now facing.

When Abramovich first took office within the Chelsea village, transfer prices in europe, as well as around the globe, had deflated to something that we could at least to deem to be acceptable. Within a few weeks however, it seemed the transfer market have gone mad. Glen Johnson, who of course will replace Brian Priske in the Pompey right back position next season, was signed for what seemd an incredible £6m for an unproven 18 year old defender, whilst Chelsea also spent what now seems like a ridiclious £15.5 million on Adrian Mutu. Juan Sebastian Veron was also signed after a terrible spell at Manchester United, for what again seemed like silly money. 30 year old Andrij Shevchenko was of course also added to the squad this summer, for that also seems like a crazy £30million for a man of his age, and at this stage of his career.

What has all this got to do with Pompey? Well I see the same thing happening again, albeit on alot smaller scale. Curtis Davies for instance is a fantastic defender in my eyes, who was somewhat of a shining light for a pretty poor West Brom side last season. Figures of £10m however being quoted to Pompey are nothing short of a scandal, and for me, the high profile capture of half the club by Gaydamak in January (and of couse now the full 100%) has priced pompey out of alot of potential transfer targets inadvertidly, simply due to the fact other teams see us as 'Moneybags Pompey' all of a sudden. I asked for instance a French contact of mine only today, to ask him about our latest link to Thomert of Lens and figures of £7m being quoted, only for him to laugh and confim by fears, that now, us at Pompey, are being held ransom in the transfer market. It seems like now at Pompey the only players that can be signed at a reasonable price are those who are outcasts, or good players who are overpriced (i.e Fernandes) as well as players who are simply undesirable to the wider transfer market, the classic example being Anelka.

The club now has to move onto a new era, Mandaric is gone, Sasha is now the main man, but one thing's for sure, let's not get on the back of the new man just yet like I have heard fans already do simply because of our lack of summer transfer activity. Is it better to bide our time and wait for the right player at the right price to come along? Or pay the big bucks and have Pompey's version of Veron or Mutu come about? I think we all know the right answer to that. Let's just give the club time to get it right, and get the players that will get us into the top half of the premiership, rather than the wrong players, for big bucks, that fans have pressured the club into buying.

Play up Pompey,

James Copeland.

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