Portsmouth transfer flop and ex-Newcastle man bounces back from Fratton Park disappointment in stunning style

His ill-fated Fratton Park stay spanned just five months before being swiftly offloaded.

However, Elias Sorensen is now flourishing once more after recapturing his scoring form in the Norwegian top flight.

The 26-year-old former Newcastle and Carlisle man is presently the third-highest scorer in the Eliteserien, with 12 goals in 22 matches for Valerenga.

What’s more, he has rediscovered his goal touch while primarily operating as a left winger, rather than the centre-forward role he was handed on many occasions at Pompey.

And, with six matches remaining before the campaign finishes at the end of November, there is still every chance the Dane can close the gap on 16-goal leader Kasper Waarst Hog.

Sorensen was a notable failure in the transfer market for the Blues following his arrival in August 2024 in the aftermath of Colby Bishop’s heart diagnosis.

Having caught their attention with 23 goals in 30 matches in the third tier of Danish football in 2023-24, it was hoped the highly-regarded attacker could provide the goals in Bishop’s absence.

Despite netting 23 minutes into his Pompey debut while leading the line in a 3-3 draw at Leeds on the opening day of last season, Sorensen struggled to impress.

He started just three more matches, each in a different position, either on the left wing, right wing on at centre-forward, while missed a penalty against Oxford United in October 2024.

After being hauled off at half-time against Cardiff, with the Blues trailing 2-0, he featured just four times over the next 13 matches, all coming from the bench, as he faded away from the first-team. In total, he scored once in 12 outings.

Personal reasons

Pompey conceded they had made a transfer mistake and, once the window reopened, Sorensen was moved onto Valerenga in January for a fee similar to which they had paid out five months earlier.

Sporting director Rich Hughes later revealed a contributing factor behind the striker’s disappointing stay was the failure of his wife to be granted a visa to join her husband in England.

While Mousinho told The News at the time: ‘You are never going to look at a player who has been here for six months and not played a huge amount of games and say it has been a roaring success.

‘But Eli was a great kid, he kept his head down in training, he scored a really important goal for us up at Leeds and had a really big contribution.’

Valerenga success

With the Norwegian season starting in March, Sorensen would register on his Valerenga debut in a 3-1 success over Viking.

There was also a remarkable scoring run until midway through September when he netted in six successive games, totalling nine goals during that eye-catching spell.

He now has 12 goals and two assists from 22 games, with almost all of his goal contributions coming from the left wing.

He is presently third in the Eliteserien’s scoring charts, behind 16-goal Kasper Hogh (Bodo/Glimt) and 15-goal Daniel Karlsbakk (Sarpsborg FK).

Valerenga are presently seventh in the table with six matches remaining before the league closes on November 30.

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