Tony Adams set to make Portsmouth signings

14 January 2009 11:40
Adams led holders Portsmouth to an easy 2-0 FA Cup win against Bristol City at Ashton Gate on Tuesday night with a depleted squad and promised that he was close to adding new faces.[LNB]Adams has had to sell two of his key assets in Lassana Diarra, to Real Madrid, and Jermain Defoe, to Spurs. Some of the £35 million Portsmouth have received for the pair will be handed back to Adams, hopefully in time for the crucial trip to Spurs.[LNB]"I will do a roll call and hopefully there will be reinforcements too," said Adams. "We are down the line with a few."[LNB]Adams has asked executive chairman Peter Storrie to make as many as five signings during the transfer window and he has confirmed he is making good progress.[LNB]"We're close on a number of deals," said Storrie. "We're confident things will be completed in the next couple of days, permanent and loan signings."[LNB]Among those linked with a move to Fratton Park are Valencia pair Manuel Fernandes and Edu, while there has also been speculation regarding Real Madrid's Javier Saviola and Michael Johnson of Manchester City.[LNB]Adams has also expressed an interest in former Portsmouth midfielder Gary O'Neil and the club could return to Middlesbrough with a new offer.[LNB]However, Adams played down talk of a move for Manchester City striker Benjani Mwaruwari, adding: "There's no truth in the Benjani rumours. Could he come? I don't know. I'm working on recruitment, that's going on now and was going on in November and December.[LNB]"I got the job in October and needed to get stuck in and work on it, I've only had a couple of months so far. I think it's very obvious the areas I'm looking for, maybe something in the coming days, we'll see."[LNB]As for the victory at Ashton Gate, Adams added: "I was pleased with the resilience of the guys. We are looking a lot tougher to beat now.[LNB]"We had a makeshift midfield containing two centre-halves and a wide left player. But they're honest enough guys and stuck to their task well."[LNB]Peter Crouch scored his 13th goal for Portsmouth – and seventh under Adams – before Nico Kranjcar added a second goal and David James saved a last minute penalty.[LNB]"I would have been gutted if they have scored their penalty because I wanted us to keep another clean sheet," added Adams, three times an FA Cup winner with Arsenal. [LNB]

Source: Telegraph