Portsmouth v Norwich City: the glaringly obvious absentee as transfer rivals prepare to go head-to-head at Fratton Park
Pompey and Norwich go head-to head on the pitch on Saturday just weeks after squaring up to each other in the transfer market for Denmark midfielder Pelle Mattsson.
When Pompey welcome Norwich City to Fratton Park at lunchtime on Saturday, there’ll be one notable absentee among the line-ups - Pelle Mattsson.
Fans of both clubs will be well versed on the Danish midfielder, given the column inches dedicated to the Silkeborg IF man during the course of this summer’s transfer window.
Pompey were initially credited with an interest in the 24-year-old back on June 26 - a link that ran until Carrow Road emerged as the likeliest destination for the £2.6m-rated defensive midfielder at the back end of July.
However, that much-anticipated move to the Canaries never materialised, with the Blues’ Championship rivals growing frustrated with Silkeborg’s hard-ball approach to negotiations and their apparent refusal to compromise on their valuation on the player.
In the end, they walked away from the negotiating table and turned their attention to Serbia international Mirko Topic, who they signed from Portuguese side Famalicao in an initial deal worth £3m.
And it’s Topic who is expected to offer Liam Manning’s side protection in front of the back four when they go head to head with Pompey for the first time since Good Friday, when John Mousinho’s side ran out convincing 5-3 winners at Carrow Road.
A Mattsson deal, as far as Norwich is concerned, is now considered dead in the water.
Pompey’s summer of chasing midfield reinforcements
As for the Blues, they, too, had to walk away from any potential deal - albeit at a much earlier stage than Saturday’s visitors.
Unable to compete with the numbers being talked about, their interest proved short-lived and prompted a revisit to their wanted list, where they successfully completed £1m-plus move for Hungarian midfielder Mark Kosznovszky and South Africa midfielder Luke Le Roux.
The duo - alongside fellow summer arrival John Swift - have helped breathe fresh life into an engine room that lost loanee pair Freddie Potts and Isaac Hayden at the end of last season.
Both players made their competitive debuts for Pompey in Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup defeat at the hands of League One Reading to varying degrees of success.
And while the Norwich game will come too soon into their Fratton Park integration process for them to start, their presence alongside the tried and tested Andre Dozzell, the currently-injured Marlon Pack and Terry Devlin means the middle of the park is an area Mousinho is currently not looking to reinforce further before the transfer window closes at 7pm on September 1.
Instead of seeking to capitalise on Norwich's failed attempt to lure Mattsson to these shores, Pompey’s focus lies elsewhere as they have more pressing concerns.
Pelle Mattson - what next?
So where does this summer’s event leave Mattsson?
Despite being open to a move, the midfielder looks set to remain a Silkeborg player for the time being.
Norwich and Pompey’s interest was proving to be the strongest, with the player keen to make the switch to England. Whether an alternative emerges, remains to be seen.
You can’t help wondering if Silkeborg’s tactics throughout the summer might come back to haunt them, though.
Amid their strong-arm negotiating tactics, they wanted Mattsson to help steer them into the Conference League group stages, where additional financial riches lay in wait.
But on Wednesday night, those dreams were shattered when Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok dumped them out of the competition at the third qualifying round stage.
A 1-0 home defeat last week was followed by a creditable 2-2 draw at the Chorten Arena in Bialystok. Yet it was the Danish Superliga side who bowed out 3-2 on aggregate.
Mattsson’s form has faltered, too amid the transfer speculation. He was substituted at half-time during a recent 2-0 defeat to Fredericia and admitted to being frustrated by all the talk surrounding his future.
‘I think I've said what I need to say about it,’ the frustrated midfielder told Bold after that game.
‘It's been filled, and that's not where my focus is at all. I don't want to talk about a possible goodbye. It could be the next game and the next game again, so it's strange to talk about.
‘It could end up being a goodbye, but it's not certain. We'll have to see what happens. We just lost a game, and then I get a question like this. I am deeply disappointed to lose 0-2 at home to Fredericia.
‘Now that I've mentioned it and tried to be open in the media about how I feel, I almost have to be responsible for something I've said, that's how it is.
‘It's part of the game that people write about transfers. I know the world of football, and there's nothing to say about that.’
With Mattsson now well into the final 12 months of his current contract, Silkeborg’s valuation of the player will also be impacted if other clubs are tempted to make an approach. Good luck, if they do.