Surplus to requirements

I think that it is safe to say that pretty much all of us are expecting 'January departures' right?

Well, if this is able to happen on 'our terms' perhaps we would be a little more surprised, but according to The Mail today not only will it be on our terms it will be on the terms of Appy...

In order to 'generate the funds needed for a major rebuilding programme' - as well as generate funds to keep us going for a little longer if a new owner cannot be found pretty quickly I guess! - a quartet of players have 'apparently' been told that they 'will be made available in January.'

One of those, pretty unsurprisingly, is Tal Ben-Haim.

Others that will be allowed to move on are Kanu, The Herminator and Benjani.

As well as TBH has played, overall, this season his departure - as it has for years now really! - is a must so if we finally can ship him out in January then lets hope we can.

King Kanu, despite still having glimpses of magic, is becoming less and less of an influence for us and is not even making the bench anymore - perhaps he is a 'lowish' earner, on some £10,000 p/w but this is £40,000 p/m that could be put to better use to be honest.

What can you say about The Herminator! We all love him, he has an infectious personality but he has barely featured this season due to injury and when he has he looks well off the pace and this is causing him to have disciplinary problems with it pretty much always a worry that he would be sent for an early bath. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but maybe, just maybe - as heartless as it might sound - the contract that ended last summer should have been his last?

Benji is another that I have always loved, his return - that most have wanted since he left for Citeh - finally came this season but he looks a shadow of the player he once was and the more we see this the more his previous is tarnished in many ways. People may argue otherwise but I would imagine that he is on 'pretty good' money too...

Should we be able to offload these players I would 'think' that we could save somewhere in the region of £250,000 p/m on wages, that is £3m per year on these players alone!

The problem is 'wanting' players to leave and actually 'getting' them to go is another matter...

I am not convinced that clubs will be queuing up for these players. Even if they are offered on free transfers clubs will still have to come somewhere near to what they currently earn in wages and can you see many others paying even half of what we are for aging players, mostly on the decline?

Nope, nor can I, but lets see what the New Year can bring eh...

PLAY UP POMPEY!

Click here to make your prediction: Pompey v Scum.



Vital Pompey on: Vital Pompey on:



Frippy's Virtual Bookies - here.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.