Twelve months, 22 players, one club - life's never dull at Pompey
Arnold Mvuemba didn't leave much of an impression on Pompey.
You certainly won't find him mentioned in the same breath as Lassana Diarra, Sulley Muntari, Glen Johnson and Jermain Defoe.
Yet he has much in common.
For all have left Fratton Park in the last 12 months.
They aren't alone – there are 22 of them in total.
It's a staggering amount of Pompey exits in such a short period of time and a reflection of an ever-changing squad craving stability.
Mvuemba is currently training with Le Championnat outfit Lorient as both clubs look to thrash out a possible switch for the ex-France under-21 international.
Out of contract in 12 month's time, the midfielder has started just five Premier League games in two-and-a-half years on the south coast.
The need to move on is understandable for everyone concerned and appears to be a certainty.
And Mvuemba is definitely in good company.
From June last year until the corresponding month this time around, there have been 22 players who have left Fratton Park behind, never to return.
The great, the good and the downright poor.
Nonetheless, it's a massive number of departees for any football club to bear.
What's more, 20 of them have made first-team squads over the past two seasons.
Pele is one such exception, having never made it out of the reserves, despite being on loan with a view to a permanent move.
He arrived at Fratton Park with a tantalising reputation, after featuring in Inter Milan's Serie A-winning side of 2007-08.
Pele failed to convince the Italians, however, and later became the makeweight in a lucrative swap deal for Ricardo Quaresma before bagging a short-term stint with the Blues.
But he ended up making just two appearances for Guy Whittingham's men before returning to parent club Porto this summer.
The other is Jean-Francois Christophe, a reserve-team midfielder who spent time on loan at Bournemouth and Yeovil since his summer 2007 arrival.
His temporary spell at Southend was made permanent in January, where he went on to claim their goal-of-the-season accolade.
Everybody else is rather more familiar with the first-team set-up.
Johnson, Muntari, Diarra and Defoe were all sold for massive fees – to Liverpool, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Tottenham respectively – as the Blues reaped hefty profits on what they initially out-laid.
Along with Pedro Mendes, who left for Scottish champions Rangers, four of them were part of the club's triumphant FA Cup-winning side at Wembley just 13 months ago.
All are sadly missed and no doubt would form the foundation of any side Sulaiman Al Fahim could put together with his billions.
The likes of Franck Songo'o, Lauren, Richard Duffy and Djimi Traore are not quite so yearned for.
Neither should they be.
Nonetheless, each and every one of them have featured at least on the bench during the past few seasons – Lauren himself making 18 appearances in the 2007-08 campaign.
Noe Pamarot, Glen Little and Jerome Thomas have followed them through the Fratton exit door with their contracts opted not to be renewed.
Then there are the loanees, former France under-21 left-back Lucien Aubey, Israel hitman Ben Sahar and Greek poacher Theofanis Gekas – all of whom have proven to be failures.
Czech Republic striker Milan Baros, who scored five goals on his way to picking up the golden boot in the 2004 European Championship, and Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant didn't fare much better – and all left without giving the club any inclination to make the move permanent.
As for French starlet Armand Traore, he was always going to return to the Emirates and his Arsenal colleagues, such is his immense promise.
Finally, there's Sean Davis, who turned down the offer of a new three-year deal to today move to Bolton.
Twelve months, 22 players, one team.
Only Pompey.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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