Africa-Press – Gambia. Pompey have been linked with a move for Mjallby attacking midfielder Abdoulie Manneh ahead of the summer transfer window.
The Pompey transfer rumour mill churned out a left-field name over the weekend, with the Blues credited with an interest in Gambia international Abdoulie Manneh.
According to The Mirror, the Blues have been keeping tabs on the 20-year-old’s exploits for Swedish top-tier outfit Mjallby this season.
But they’re not the only ones showing an interest, with Brighton, Wolves, Bournemouth and Burnley among those also reportedly impressed with Manneh’s five goals and two assists from eight league games to date this term.
The Blues have been no stranger to dipping their toes in the foreign transfer market in recent transfer windows, with the likes of Nicolas Schmid, Abdoulaye Kamara and Elias Sorensen recruited from the continent last summer. Meanwhile, Australia has also helped the Blues bolster their ranks in the form of Kusini Yengi, Hayden Matthews, Jacob Farrell and Thomas Waddingham.
As similar deals appear in the pipelineagain this summer, we turned to highly-respected Swedish journalist Erik Hadzic for the lowdown on the latest player to be linked with a move to Fratton Park.
Here’s the questions were put to the fotbollskanalen.se correspondent and his responses as we tried to learn more about a player, who is making quite a name for himself in this season’s Allsvenskan.
Is £4.2m figure wide of the mark?
Yeah, maybe. You have to remember that he’s done brilliantly this year, but it’s only been a couple of months that he’s been this good. He started off quite slowly during his first year in Mjallby, which was last season, obviously.
He got injured, then he was mainly a substitute during the large part of the season, before he eventually broke into the starting XI in the last five games OF last season.
So he’s quite fresh, even in Allsvenskan as a star player. So over four million euros could be expensive.
I haven’t seen that potential in him, but that’s because he’s been a star player in the Swedish league for quite a short time. So time will tell.
Would a move to Pompey this summer or some of the other clubs be too soon into his career?
Maybe. I think staying at least one more whole season in Mjallby would do him a favour. On the other hand, the progression, the development he’s had in the last months – it shows that he has big potential and maybe he could do it in another environment as well that’s on a higher level.
‘But, yeah, in general, I think he would be better off staying at least two seasons in the Swedish league.
Q. Does he have plenty of ambition?.
Yeah, he’s a really shy person, so I didn’t get many quotes from him that day, to be honest. But, yeah, as you read in that article, in his homeland, he was considered the best, clearly the best offensive midfielder in Gambia.
‘So, yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if he broke into the to- five leagues, but that would be maybe more of the case that he would have to start in the German league or in the Championship rather than going directly to the Premier League, I think.
Finally, what type of player is Manneh?
He can play anywhere in the offensive positions. He prefers playing as an attacking midfielder, but he can play on the left wing as well, and even as a striker.
But I doubt if he has the physical abilities to play as a lone striker in the Championship. Mainly left wing or attacking midfielder, that is his best position.
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