Portsmouth close in on Euro 2004 winner

Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric is set to fly to Athens tomorrow and open transfer talks with Greece Euro 2004 hero Angelos Basinas.

Having already missed out on defender Ben Thatcher, who joined Manchester City after quitting Leicester, and striker Marcus Bent, who chose Everton when leaving Ipswich, Pompey manager Harry Redknapp is desperate to bring new signings to Fratton Park.

Mandaric – who had a brief but infamously public fall-out with Redknapp at the end of last season – will negotiate with midfielder Basinas’ club Panathinaikos.

He will also hope to persuade the player that Premiership football will make up for the virtual guarantee of European competition he has annually in Greece.

Basinas, 28, had an outstanding tournament in Portugal, crowned by taking the corner which produced Greece’s winner in the final against the hosts on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Mandaric insists striker Aiyegbeni Yakubu will be a Portsmouth player next season.

Yakubu has attracted the interest of several clubs and could be lured away from Fratton Park because Pompey only own half the player’s rights – with his former club Maccabi Haifa holding the rest.

Middlesbrough have been linked with a move for the Nigerian but Mandaric told Sky Sports News: “There has been no conversation, no dialogue with Middlesbrough.

“Believe me when you hear the agents giving the rumours it is for their own interest. We are not keen for him to go. He is our player and he will be our player next season. He will be at Portsmouth next year.”

Rather than letting a striker go, Portsmouth are hoping to bolster their frontline.

Pompey are currently trying to close a deal to sign Preston North End’s Jamaican international forward Ricardo Fuller.

A spokesman at Fratton Park said this afternoon: “It has not happened yet but it is not far away.”