Portsmouth make final bid for Francis

Portsmouth are believed to have made Norwich a take it or leave it offer of £1.75m for their midfielder Damien Francis.

And while Norwich say they will think it over, the Premiership club have made it clear they do not want to use their veteran defender Linvoy Primus as part of any swap-deal.

Relegated Canaries have already turned down Pompey’s previous offer of around £1.4m for Francis, the goalscoring former Wimbledon midfielder who scored seven times in 35 starts last season.

Norwich boss Nigel Worthington values Primus at around £600,000 and may now have to make a bid at that price but Pompey are keen to keep their consistent 31-year-old.

A Portsmouth official said: “Norwich were asking about Linvoy last season but we’ve never wanted to lose him.

“We have plenty of targets, though, and Francis is one of them – although only one. All the rest you read about is speculation.”

Alain Perrin, Portsmouth’s new French manager, has signed Newcastle pair Laurent Robert and Andy O’Brien this summer plus Colombian midfielder John Viafara, who has impressed in pre-season training this week.

But Perrin has allowed Aiyegbeni Yakubu, Patrick Berger, Shaka Hislop and Steve Stone to go and admits he is still short of numbers before he takes the squad to France for pre-season matches at the end of next week.

He still wants players in all four departments – goalkeeper, defence, midfield and up front – but turned down an approach from former Fulham captain Lee Clark, 32, after the collapse of his move to Leeds United over wages.

And he cannot shift striker Ricardo Fuller to Sunderland as he failed a medical on his right knee – just as he did before agreeing a pay-as-you-play contract with Pompey last season when he came to Fratton Park from Preston North End despite not being fully fit.