The Portsmouth transfer target set to generate more summer talk after Birmingham City, Wolves and Coventry City interest
A move to Birmingham City collapsed in January after Coventry City interest in The Gambia international. Yet, the winger admired by Pompey remains with his current employers ahead of the summer transfer window opening.
If Pompey are to progress their transfer spending, he falls into the transfer bracket referenced as being where they should be aiming to operate.
And he’s a known consideration from previous transfer windows, though one who garnered attention from sides with spending power way beyond the Blues’ means.
In-demand Pompey target from last summer remains with Swedish champions
Yet for all the talk of Abdoulie Manneh joining the likes of Championship champions Coventry City and big-spending Birmingham City, a deal was never seen to fruition.
A figure of £4.2m was aired when Manneh’s name first surfaced in connection with Pompey a year ago, with the likes of Wolves and Burnley keen. He now has 18 months on his existing deal, however.
The News understands the attacker, seen as one of Africa’s hottest emerging properties, was of interest to the Blues, though there was an acceptance the 21-year-old was headed to one of Europe’s big hitters.
Greek giants Olympiacos seemed a strong contender last summer, before a £3m deal collapsed towards the window’s climax.
Future medical issues were mooted as a factor in that move not being sealed, with a similar impasse reached in January with Manneh reportedly in the country to seal a Birmingham switch.
The winger remains with Allsvenskan champions Mjallby, however, after he contributed seven goals and three assists to their success last term.
It’s a couple of goals and assists from seven appearances after their title defence got underway in April, though a knee issue has Manneh on the sidelines at present.
Whether he’s a player deemed worthy of revisiting from Pompey’s point of view remains to be seen, though wide areas are clearly going to be an area of focus in the months ahead as the window opens on June 15.
Boss John Mousinho has referenced progressing spending levels from £1m-£1.5m into the £2m-£5m category, with ‘significant figures’ needed to be paid to do so.
Speaking after Championship status was secured at the end of April, Mousinho said: ‘Yes, increased spending is the obvious answer and what everyone goes back to.
‘I think we can definitely do that, but it’s about getting to a level where everyone’s comfortable and will work for us.
‘We can’t say all a sudden we are going to spend £40m this summer, it’s just not going to happen. But can we up those £1m-£1.5m transfer fees. Can we up those?
‘Can we get to the levels where we can get established Championship players with less risk in the equation?
‘There will always be risk, look at clubs who’ve recruited over the past two windows. There’s plenty of players who fall into that £2m-£5m category that haven’t gone right. But some clubs can do two of those, so it doesn’t matter as much.
‘We have to be astute and clever, we need to be right at the leading edge of everything to get it right.
‘I do think we can go in that direction and I do think we can get there - but it’s about supporting that with evidence of how we are going to progress these players, how they fit in the side and if one player in that category is going to bolster the side - or do we need to do four or five?
‘So then we are looking at significant figures, significant figures in terms of the spend and also the wage budget.
‘It’s a long conversation and it’s one we’re going to have. Hopefully we come out the other end and we get things right.
‘But it’s not just as simple as saying we’re going to spend and that is going to be the silver bullet to change all of our fortunes.'