http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jul/01/portsmouth-niko-kranjcar-davis-sean
Niko Kranjcar says he will return to Portsmouth for pre-season training* Jamie Jackson
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 July 2009 19.07 BST
Despite the upheaval at Portsmouth Niko Kranjcar has confirmed he expects to begin the new season at Fratton Park.Asked whether he would consider a move because of the club's ongoing predicament, which includes their undergoing due diligence for a possible buyout as well as players being moved on to trim the overheads, Kranjcar said: "I'm coming back for pre-season and that's it."
So, as far as he is concerned, his future is with Portsmouth? "Yes."
Portsmouth have an estimated £60m debt and the Croatian playmaker is, alongside Peter Crouch, the club's most valuable playing asset. Last week Glen Johnson was transferred for around £18m to Liverpool, heading a list of departing players which so far numbers 11.
Those include the midfielder Sean Davis, who left on a free for Bolton today, while the defenders Noé Pamarot, Lauren, Djimi Traoré and the midfielders Glen Little and Jerome Thomas have also been released.
Kranjcar, who is 24 and an established international, would be expected to raise a minimum fee of around £12m and Crouch has recently voiced his disquiet at the direction Portsmouth seem to be taking. "There are 15 players out of contract at the end of the season – no one knows who the manager is, we don't even know who the owner is to be honest." That suggests the England striker is considering his future.
Portsmouth are in limbo as the club wait for a proposed buyout by Fahim Asia Associates, the investment vehicle owned by Sulaimin al-Fahim, before the status of last season's temporary manager, Paul Hart, can be resolved, let alone any player recruitment can be contemplated for next season.
Fahim has yet to complete the fit-and-proper-persons test which any prospective owner has to pass before assuming control of a football club, although the 32-year-old businessman is in possession of the forms as they were sent to him a fortnight ago. Due diligence is thought to be continuing smoothly.
Kranjcar, along with the rest of the 20-man Portsmouth squad – the smallest in the Premier League – returns for pre-season fitness tests next Thursday, by which time Fahim's buyout may be a little closer to resolution.
Among the announced ambitions of the businessman is for Portsmouth to be perceived in the Middle East as a bigger club than Manchester City as Sheikh Mansour, the owner at Eastlands, is a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family.