That Harry Redknapp, he’s a canny operator and no mistake. Who’d have thought that David Nugent, a much-coveted England U-21 international, would have ended up at Fratton Park? Not Pies, that’s for sure.
But that is indeed where Nugent is headed, on a four-year contract, after Preston North End agreed terms with Pompey this week. The deal is reportedly worth around £6m. There will be no dream move to Everton, the club Nugent supported as a boy, apparently because David Moyes, in no way conforming to the tight Scotsman stereotype, would not pay more than £4m for him. Moyes has a point – Nugent is unproven in the top flight, and £6m for an unproven striker is no small amount.
Redknapp said of the transfer: ‘The days of strikers scoring 40-odd goals in a season like Clive Allen are long gone so we are putting no pressure on David, but every time I have seen him play he has done well.’