Portsmouth have completed the signing of striker David Nugent from Preston North End for a fee believed to be about £6 million.
The England Under-21 striker made the move after another round of talks with Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager, having initially asked for more time to consider his options last week.
“I am delighted to get him and I’ll be even more delighted if he can get into double figures with his goals for us this season,” Redknapp said. “The days of strikers scoring 40-odd goals in a season like Clive Allen are long gone and so we are putting no pressure on David but every time I have seen him play he has done well. I think it gives a sign of how far we’ve come. We’ve signed Sylvain Distin, Hermann Hreidarsson, Muntari and now Nugent this summer. We are full of quality.”
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John Utaka, the Nigeria forward, is also understood to be close to completing a move from Rennes for a similar sum. However, Kanu, last season’s top scorer, is holding out for a two-year contract while the club have offered only a further 12 months and, with Lomana LuaLua and Benjani Mwaruwari on extended leave after African Cup of Nations qualifying matches, the club began preseason training last week with no recognised strikers.