Source: Bournemouth_Echo
Cherries: Pompey won't budge on Pearce sell-on
CHERRIES chairman Eddie Mitchell is keen to quickly draw a line under Jason Pearce's on-off transfer saga.[LNB] Inspirational team captain Pearce was last week heavily linked with a £500,000 move to Championship new boys Peterborough.[LNB] But, while Posh director of football Barry Fry claimed Cherries had accepted an offer for the 23-year-old, Mitchell insisted no deal had been agreed.[LNB] It then emerged that Cherries would have to stump up 50 per cent of any sale to Pearce's former club Portsmouth, as revealed exclusively by the Daily Echo on Saturday.[LNB] CHERRIES chairman Eddie Mitchell is keen to quickly draw a line under Jason Pearce's on-off transfer saga.[LNB] Inspirational team captain Pearce was last week heavily linked with a £500,000 move to Championship new boys Peterborough.[LNB] But, while Posh director of football Barry Fry claimed Cherries had accepted an offer for the 23-year-old, Mitchell insisted no deal had been agreed.[LNB] It then emerged that Cherries would have to stump up 50 per cent of any sale to Pearce's former club Portsmouth, as revealed exclusively by the Daily Echo on Saturday.[LNB] The sizeable sell-on agreed between the two clubs when Pearce joined Cherries on a free from Fratton Park in 2007 scuppered any chance of the defender leaving for the reported fee.[LNB] And the move all but bit the dust over the weekend when Portsmouth officials told Mitchell they would not be prepared to compromise on the clause.[LNB] Pearce, who polled a landslide victory to be crowned supporters' player of the year, still has two years left to run on his current contract with Cherries.[LNB] Mitchell told the Daily Echo: We spoke to Portsmouth and they said what reason would they have to reduce it.[LNB] They were not interested in changing it. It is no great hardship to us.[LNB] If Portsmouth were to come back and say they would change this or that then maybe it might be rekindled.[LNB] But people have got to remember that Jason wasn't put up for sale and he would be the last player we would want to sell.[LNB] Mitchell, who declined to reveal the finer details of the offer tabled by Peterborough, added: We were disappointed the offer came in for Jason because he had not been marketed for sale.[LNB] It was then bewildering when reports of a fee and our acceptance came out. That is not the way we would do business and it didn't help the situation at all.[LNB] It was very surprising to see what was in his file. We weren't part of the club then and it wasn't something we would have entered into.[LNB] Mitchell, meanwhile, confirmed talks were ongoing with Mathieu Baudry and Ben Williamson regarding new contracts.[LNB]
