Portsmouth chief details position over summer exits for Terry Devlin and Adrian Segecic as Wrexham & Co circle prized assets
Wrexham are keen on Terry Devlin and Adrian Segecic has interest from the Premier League, Championship and the continent. Pompey chief Andy Cullen makes the club’s position clear on selling the club’s top talent.
Pompey will not be pressured into selling their prized assets this summer.
Blues chief executive, Andy Cullen, insisted his club will only cash in on their rising stars ‘when the time is right’, as the stock of Terry Devlin and Adrian Segecic soars.
Pompey chief: ‘We’ll sell when it’s right deal for football club’
Cullen believes John Mousinho’s first-team squad currently possesses the best talent he’s known in his five years at Fratton Park.
He confirmed January interest in Devlin, with Wrexham making a reported £2m bid for the Northern Ireland international who delivered an outstanding breakout campaign at PO4.
That was echoed by Segecic who produced eight goal contributions from the final six games and was named the Championship’s player of the month for April.
The News reported Premier League, Championship and sides from across the continent are trailing the 21-year-old, who finished the campaign as Pompey’s top scorer.
More interest in the pair is likely this summer, with Cullen stating that will be managed in the ‘best way forward’, with the Blues in a strong position to maximise return on investment.
Cullen told The News: ‘There is no requirement for us to sell any player in the team.
‘We’ll only sell when we consider it’s the right deal for the football club.
‘That was the case in the way negotiations went with Callum Lang in January.
‘It’s documented we had interest in Terry, which was of no interest to us at all. We had interest in other players, which was of no interest to us.
‘So first and foremost, any deal we do has to be the right deal for the football club, and it has to be in a way that if we lose a player we can improve in that position as well.
‘We want to continue to trade.
‘It’s the best period since I’ve been at the club (in terms of assets) so there will be speculation about certain players who hold high value.
‘I’m not going to comment on individuals, but the fact is we’ll do it when it’s right.
‘We’re trying to identify as best we possibly we can young talented players who are first-team ready and can appreciate with the club.
‘They can appreciate by getting exposure, playing games and developing. Then at some point their value goes up to a point where there’s interest in them. Then you have to manage that the best way forward.
‘So we’re really pleased a number of players are now at a stage where they’ve got the games and have really appreciated in value.’
In terms of Devlin, Pompey boss Mousinho has already been clear he feels it will be hard to retain his services this summer, though a huge profit on the £70,000 paid to Glentoran will be expected.
The same goes for Segecic, with the Blues paying a training compensation fee of around £200,000 to Sydney FC to bring in the attacker last summer.
When asked if he thinks it will be hard to keep Devlin, Mousinho told The News last month: ‘I think it probably will be, I’ll be surprised if we don’t have to ward off some interest in Terry.
‘He’s turned himself into an excellent Championship right-back.
‘Terry will obviously give credit outwardly and point at the development he’s had at the football club. Ultimately, though, he’s been a pleasure to develop and he’s been easy to work with.
‘He keeps his head down and works hard. Technically, his improvement has been astounding; physically, his improvement has been astounding. There is only one person in that equation who can make that happen - and that’s Terry.
‘I’ll be surprised if we’re not warding off some serious competition for him.’