Pompey move would suit Camara - agent

Wigan’s Senegal striker Henri Camara is dreaming of a move to Portsmouth - according to his agent.

Camara, much admired by Pompey manager Harry Redknapp who took him on loan at Southampton 18 months ago, believes he can fire them into Europe next season.

And Redknapp is expected to make a £4million move for him after returning tomorrow from Tel Aviv where he has been in talks about transfer targets with Pompey’s co-owners Sacha Gaydamak and Milan Mandaric and chief executive Peter Storrie.

Camara’s agent Willie McKay, a close friend of Redknapp, told the Portsmouth News: “He’s a player with tremendous pace who scores goals and creates things.

“Imagine him getting a chance to play with players like Andres D’Alessandro and Pedro Mendes, with the balls they would be putting through from midfield.

“He scored four goals in the African Cup of Nations for Senegal and 12 in the Premier League for a Wigan side who, no disrespect, were not expected to stay up.

“All his goals came from his pace or were made by himself rather than coming from midfield.

“It’s not like a player who has gone to Everton from Crystal Palace for £8.5m (Andy Johnson), who scores a high proportion of his goals from penalties.”

Portsmouth fans saw what Camara did on the penultimate day of the season at Wigan.

He gave his side the lead and if a second strike, erroneously ruled offside, had counted Redknapp’s team would almost certainly have been relegated.

McKay said: “He can do that to any defence in the Premier League. Harry Redknapp likes him and they got on well. He had him at Southampton.

“I think Portsmouth will be in Europe next year. I think the players they got in the last transfer window, with a few additions, are good enough to take them into the UEFA Cup places.

“The number of points they got towards the end of the season was amazing. It was Champions League form.”

Redknapp admitted: “I like Henri Camara. But I haven’t spoken to Paul Jewell at Wigan. Whether he would sell him, I don’t know.”

Jewell has repeatedly said Camara is part of his future plans at the JJB Stadium despite a couple of disciplinary run-ins, but the player is only one of many on Redknapp’s hit-list.

He has also had his eye on Red Star Belgrade’s 6ft 7in Serbia and Montenegro striker Nikola Zigic and Celtic’s unsettled Bulgaria midfielder Stilian Petrov.