Rearguard Reinforcements Arrive

31 August 2012 19:36
Deadline day deals.

Johnny Ertl and Darel Russell have confirmed their one month deals with Portsmouth as expected, but Josh Thompson has also signed for Pompey today.

Michael Appleton had Thompson on trial during pre-season and he was impressive in every game. However, due to the rules of the Scottish transfer window the Celtic centre back would have had to have been borrowed for at least six months, something Pompey cannot sanction at the moment.

It looked like Portsmouth would miss out but Thompson cancelled the final year of his contract with the Scottish Champions so he could sign for Pompey instead. Unfortunately, he will not receive clearance in time to play against Oldham tomorrow.

There has been no word on a potential move for Daniel Bogdanovic and the official Portsmouth twitter page claims that "all deadline day deals are done" so expect no more signings tonight.

There has been one depature as Sam Magri has completed his move to Queens Park Rangers on a free transfer, although Pompey do have a sell-on clause for when he is eventually sold to another club, as will certainly be the case given the current nature of QPR.

Appleton has claimed that he was let go because he simply wasn't good enough to play League One football, despite his youth appearances for England. Time will tell if he has made the right call but Appy hasn't made many mistakes when it comes to player judgement so far.

And there may be more players coming in next month. Long gone are the days Pompey fans would be glued to the TV or internet as Harry Redknapp frantically tried to buy anybody he could think of at the last minute.

So whilst there will be no loanees for a few weeks, there are bound to be more free agents that may well grace the Fratton Park turf in the next couple of weeks.

Source: FOOTYMAD