Desperate to hold on to the services of their Super Eagles stars, Nwankwo Kanu and John Utaka, for as long as possible, reports out of Fratton Park indicate that Portsmouth is ready to lay on private jet to ferry the players from the Eagles’ Nations Cup camp in Spain to honour club assignments.
However, the deal will only go through should Super Eagles head coach Berti Vogts sanction it.
The Premiership outfit, which will be hit hard by the Nations Cup exodus of their key players, has already formally written to the Glass House requesting that they delay the arrival of their Nigerian stars by one week, which would enable them feature in at least one Premiership game for Pompey – a request, which has been turned down by Vogts.
However, fresh information out of the South Coast club side indicates that Harry Redknapp has not given up hope and is pushing forward the private jet option.
According to the Pompey manager’s plan, the players will report to camp as demanded by Vogts – January 6th – but will then be allowed to travel to England by the special flight arranged by the club so that they would be able to take part in Portsmouth’s domestic game before being flown back to the south coast of Spain.
The game Portsmouth realistically can get Kanu and Utaka to play is the road tie against Sunderland on January 13th. It is highly unlikely that the Eagles handlers will allow them feature against Derby a week later – because it comes up on the same day the team is scheduled to depart Malaga, January 19th.
The players would thus be away from the Eagles’ Malaga camp for only a couple of days, which the club believes should not adversely affect Vogts’ Nations Cup plans.
It appears that Portsmouth is showing so much concern for their Nigerian stars because even though they are not the only ones heading to Ghana, the location of their Malaga camp makes it an attractive option for the club to consider, since it is only about 90 minutes flight time away from England.
For instance Pompey’s Ghanaian midfield star Sulley Muntari will be heading to the Middle East, where Claude Le Roy has opted to camp his Black Stars.
Any flight to Dubai, where the Black Stars will wind up their Nations Cup preparations will take at least five hours from England – thus making it a logistical nightmare for both club and player.
Although it is not yet clear if Vogts would endorse Redknapp’s plan, it would not be the first time that a European club would be going out of its way to lay on a private flight for a player considered vital to their cause.
At Morac’88, then Eagles skipper Stephen Keshi was ferried between Belgium and North Africa by his club Anderlecht in order for him to be able to honour both the Nations Cup and the club’s domestic engagements.
Apart from Kanu, Utaka and Muntari, Portsmouth is also set to lose Senegal's Papa Bouba Diop after this Saturday’s FA Cup 3rd Round clash with Ipswich Town. The players, all integral part of Redknapp’s plans, could be away from Fratton Park for up to six weeks depending on the performances of their respective countries at Ghana 2008.
Redknapp is going ahead with his private jet plans even though he has admitted that he is planning to sign new players as cover for the players heading for West Africa next month because he is aware that the new players will need time to blend into his team.
"We do need to try to find maybe another three or four players from somewhere if we can because we need to fill the squad up," Redknapp told the Times newspaper.
After an excellent start to the season, Portsmouth has hit a bad patch and has slipped down to eighth position in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, Black Stars coach LeRoy will not give Redknapp any helping hand insisting that he wants all his players in camp on time.
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