Portsmouth Football Club News

• Nickname:Pompey
• Founded:1898
• Manager:Michael Appleton

• Ground:Fratton Park
• Capacity:19,179

Pompey land midfield duo

26 Jan 2009 - 09:35:00

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Portsmouth manager Tony Adams has snapped up two new midfielders as he attempts to lift the club away from the relegation dogfight.

Pompey have signed former West Ham United midfielder Hayden Mullins on a three-and-a-half-year deal while Portuguese midfielder Pele also moves to Fratton Park on loan from FC Porto until the end of the season.

Adams' side have struggled in the Premier League recently and crashed out of the FA Cup to Swansea City on Saturday with the departures of Lassana Diarra and Jermain Defoe affecting them badly.

However, Pompey's executive chairman Peter Storrie is excited by the arrivals, saying: "Hayden and Pele will add strength to our midfield.

"Central midfield was an area we needed to strengthen - that's why we've brought in two players.

"Both players have been on our radar for a while. But we wanted them here in time to beat Monday's mid-day deadline to play against Aston Villa.

"Tony and I decided to move for Hayden on Saturday night. We got hold of West Ham on Sunday morning and I think they were a bit surprised that we wanted to get the deal done so quickly.

"Hayden's an experienced player who has played exceptionally well against us in the past. He's a guy with immense experience in the Premier League, and that's what we need in this situation.

"He wanted regular football because he's been in and out of the West Ham side. We've been very successful getting players in who've wanted regular football and then blossomed for us when they've been given it.

"Pele's an exciting young talent. He did well for Inter before joining Porto. But there was a change of manager at Porto who switched it around a bit and the boy was desperate to move.

"He's an expensive player, so it's a deal with an option to buy so we can both have a look at each other. It's very similar to what we did with Nadir Belhadj.

"We hope he'll do very, very well. He's a strong lad who's very athletic and gets around the pitch."