Blackburn Rovers striker Benni McCarthy claims he wants to leave Ewood Park and has discussed a move to Pompey with South African team mate Aaron Mokoena.
If he is available, not too expensive (Sam Allardyce has quoted £3 million) and, most importantly, Pompey have had their transfer ban lifted by the time January arrives then Paul Hart should do everything he can to sign him.
McCarthy may be out of favour at Rovers but he has scored 50 goals in 96 starts since joining from FC Porto, a record that is better than one in two. Not just that but we also witnessed first hand how he can change a game on Saturday, so Hart would be stupid not to consider going for a striker who has said plenty of good things about us in the media recently despite our league position.
In addition to his quality, he won't be going to the African Nations Cup as South Africa failed to qualify. With Kanu and Aruna Dindane pencilled in as January absentees we are really going to need to strengthen our striking options and McCarthy fits the bill.
With Hassan Yebda also missing in January it was nice to read Jamie O'Hara's comments in the local rag today stating that he doesn't want to walk away from the relegation fight.
His loan agreement ends in January but Harry Redknapp has already hinted that he would allow O'Hara to stay until the end of the season. It would be a huge gap to fill if he were to return to Spurs as he has been one of our best players this season but I remain confident that he will be happy to extend his loan until May and maybe even make his move permanent.
The African Nations Cup will still give Pompey problems as John Utaka may be called up for Nigeria whilst Nadir Belhadj is certain to join Yebda in the Algerian national side, so Hart has his work cut out to find replacements.
But if McCarthy wants to come to Fratton Park, I implore Hart to make sure he does everything he can to add him to the squad as a player of his quality and experience doesn't become available often and he may be the difference between survival and relegation.
That's of course, if Hart is still here and if we have a realistic chance of avoiding the drop once those dreaded December fixtures are out of the way. |
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