Newly-promoted Championship side Portsmouth are on the cusp of completing a deal for a striker in the top-flight of a European league, according to the latest reports.
Pompey are finally back in England’s second tier for the first time in 12 years following promotion from League One last season and John Mousinho’s men were handed arguably the toughest possible start to the new campaign as the club travel to Elland Road to take on title-favourites Leeds United in West Yorkshire.
During the summer window, Mousinho has been preparing his squad for life in a higher division but the club have made only a handful of signings thus far. Barnsley captain Jordan Williams was brought to Fratton Park, while Oxford United‘s promotion hero Josh Murphy and Queens Park Rangers shot-stopper Jordan Archer were acquired as free transfers.
Furthermore, the club on the south coast completed a deal to bring Central Coast Mariners fullback Jacob Farrell to the club for an undisclosed fee and Sam Silvera was signed on a season-long loan from Middlesbrough. However, it seems as though Portsmouth will still push on to make more signings before the summer market closes at the end of next month.
Journalist Farzam Abolhosseini has revealed that Pompey are closing in on the signing of Esbjerg centre-forward Elias Sorenson, who has had a very prolific three-year stint in Denmark with the West Jylland outfit following his release from Premier League side Newcastle United. Abolhosseini has reported that Mousinho’s side will fork out a figure of between £250,000-£340,000 to secure his signature.
Sorenson is no stranger to English football as, during his time with the Magpies, he had consecutive loan spells with Blackpool and League Two side Carlisle United, although he made merely 13 appearances in all competitions across both stints. Nevertheless, with Esbjerg, the 24-year-old has scored 43 times and recorded 21 assists in just 84 games which has seemingly piqued the interest of Portsmouth.
Writer’s View
We asked The Real EFL‘s resident Carlisle United fan Ivan Newsome about his memories of Sorensen at Brunton Park earlier in his career and his assessment of the Dane wasn’t very hopeful for Portsmouth supporters about their prospective new signing.
“Given the hype around him when he joined Carlisle on loan, Sorensen’s spell can only be described as bitterly disappointing.
“At the time he was still turning out for Denmark’s U21s but seriously struggled to have any impact in the senior game. Just eight first-team league appearances, only one of those being a start displayed that it was a failed move.”
Despite this assessment from Ivan, Sorensen is certainly a much better player now than he was five years ago and his impressive record in the second division of Danish football has proved this. Perhaps a switch to Fratton Park offers him a second chance to showcase his worth in the EFL as Pompey bid for survival.