Football League World
·22 August 2024
Football League World
·22 August 2024
The Liverpool youngster is one of the many forward options that Pompey have been pursuing.
Portsmouth have agreed a £300,000 deal with Liverpool for the transfer of 20-year-old forward Harvey Blair.
David Lynch, a journalist who covers the red half of Merseyside, has stated that John Mousinho's side have a deal in place with Liverpool to sign one of their young talents.
Generally poor luck with injuries and health has continued to hit Fratton Park over the summer. As we head towards the final week of the window, Portsmouth currently have just two recognised striker options: Elias Sorensen and Christian Saydee.
Star forward Colby Bishop was set to be involved with the team for their opening games of the campaign, as the club returned to the Championship for the first time since the 2011/12 season, but an issue that was picked up in his heart has forced him to have surgery on the major organ, sidelining him for the foreseeable.
Pompey have acted quickly though to bolster their attacking options, with Blair set to be the latest addition made by Mousinho, following on from the signing of Borussia Dortmund youngster Abdoulaye Kamara and Australian goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid.
The 20-year-old is set to move to the south coast on a permanent deal, after his side agreed a £300,000 fee with Pompey, according to Lynch.
He'd reported earlier in the week that the Championship side were looking at Blair, and that Liverpool, who have moved on a lot of younger talent this summer, would be willing to listen to acceptable offers for the academy product.
Their interest in Blair stretches back to last summer. They were reportedly close to agreeing a loan deal for him when they were in League One, as per The News, but they ultimately decided against going ahead with it, with the feeling being that he wasn't quite ready for EFL action.
Blair has dealt with an annoying amount of injury issues since his proposed move to Portsmouth collapsed. His overall record at the youth level, where he continued to apply his trade after not sealing the loan switch, is solid. He contributed 15 goals and assists in 16 appearances when playing for the Reds' under-18s side three seasons ago.
Reading were previously linked with Blair too, but it looks like Pompey are the ones who are eventually going to prevail in this quest to obtain the young talent, even though it has come a year after many had expected it to.
If you were a player that was being looked at by Pompey, you were still considering your options, and you saw that they had a shocking start to life in the second tier, then you may get cold feet about any prospective move to Fratton Park.
With the opening fixtures that they have had, at least one turning over may have been expected, but they have competed admirably against two promotion favourites in Leeds United and Luton Town.
These encouraging first pair of fixtures won't have hurt Portsmouth's case to any of the players they are looking at. They can argue, reasonably, that they aren't going to be one of the teams at the foot of the table, that they can compete at this level, which should make them a more attractive destination.