Saints chasing Quashie
Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric has hinted Nigel Quashie will join former Pompey boss Harry Redknapp at Southampton, blocking Amdy Faye’s Fratton Park exit.
Mandaric confirmed Southampton have lodged a £2m (€2.85m) bid for Scotland international Quashie and while Mandaric insists he would like to keep the player, the size of the offer appeals to him.
“As far as we’re concerned Nigel is a good player for us. Southampton have been very aggressive as far as wanting Nigel, and they have put a fairly sizeable bid up for him,” he said. “We’ll still try to discourage Nigel from going there but we’ll make the decision some time today I hope.
“Any player who doesn’t want to play for us and go there, there’s nothing that you can do. I really hope that’s not the case but you can never tell.
“We’ll try to hang on to our players as much as possible but if they want to leave they will leave.”
Mandaric confirmed Southampton had lodged a bid for the former QPR midfielder.
He told Sky Sports: “They have put a £2m (€2.85m) bid. If a player wants to go and the proper money is there you have to put your business hat on your head. We will replace Nigel with somebody else if he does want to go.”
Quashie’s exit would probably close the door for Faye, who has been linked with Bolton and Aston Villa.
“We’re trying to hang on to Amdy, he’s been a good player for us. I hope he’s going to be staying with us.
“There is dialogue there (with Bolton) but we are not really pursuing that at the moment, especially if Nigel leaves then we will discourage Amdy to leave. There is a strong possibility he will be staying with us.”
Mandaric is keeping an eye on the transfer market for possible recruitments and remained philosophical about striker Aiyegbeni Yakubu, who admitted this week he would find it hard to turn down a move to a club playing in Europe.
“We are looking for alternatives couple of options for us at this time. If he (Yakubu) wants play in the Champions League I guess we have got to get there to keep him! We will do everything to keep him, he is a very big player, big asset to us. Right now it is only speculation and rumours.
