It seems that it is not only Portsmouth who will benefit from Peter Crouch’s potential move to Fratton Park as their fierce rivals Southampton would receive a significant percentage of the transfer fee that Portsmouth are set to pay Liverpool.
The England striker was sold to Liverpool from Southampton in July 2005 for £7m and it seems that a sell-on-clause was also part of this deal. Saints chairman Rupert Lowe has recently confirmed that this. With the fee for Crouch reportedly around £11m, Southampton could receive £500,000 as part of the deal.
This would be a great help to Southampton’s financial difficulties. They have been forced to sell or release a number of players and any income will be appreciated by the club. A look at Championship football odds will tell you that they aren’t expected to excel this season and there new manager - Jan Poortvliet – will be hoping that some of the £500,000 could be used to buy new players.
Despite the troubles Southampton have had recently, Jan Poortvliet has said that he is targeting a play-off spot after being impressed with his new players. So far, he has brought in midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin and goalkeeper Tommy Forecast.
Despite Jan Poortvliet’s optimism, I can see nothing but bad times ahead for Southampton and I’m referring to on-field matters. They have lost a number of key players including Darren Powel, Youseff Safri, Jermaine Wright and Idiakez. They have also forced Nathan Dyer to train alone after he turned down a new contact.
No matter how much money they receive from Peter Crouch’s transfer to Portsmouth, they still have a lot of work to do to build a squad capable of competing in the tough league that is the Championship.
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