Catlin: Pompey under no pressure to sell

The Blues chief executive has stressed Kenny Jackett is under no pressure to sell any of his team’s prized assets.

That’s in the wake of transfer gossip suggesting Rangers are interested in signing Brett Pitman.

That talk appears to be wide of the mark, with no bids made for Pompey’s top scorer.

Matt Clarke continues to be linked with a host of sides, with Championship outfit Reading the latest to once again be mentioned.

Jamal Lowe has also emerged as one of the club’s most bankable players, following an impressive end to the League One campaign.

With club chairman Michael Eisner and his Tornante company now at the helm, there is no pressure to sell.

Catlin admitted that he couldn’t guarantee players will categorically be at Fratton Park next season.

But he underlined the club’s position is clear when it comes to key members of the squad.

Catlin said: ‘Like every other supporter, I read the rumours in the press.

‘As chief executive, though, I don’t deal in rumours – I deal in facts.

‘I don’t think it’s great as a club to keep talking about individuals.

‘But as a club policy we do not want to sell our prized assets.

‘We’re not under any financial pressure to do so.

‘We want to keep our best players right here.

‘Having said that, you can never say never.

‘In football you realise you are in control of a situation contractually.

‘But once a player is unhappy and doesn’t want to be at your club, it’s very difficult to keep them there.

‘You can never say never, because things can end up out of your control. But we’re absolutely adamant we don’t need to and don’t want to sell any of our assets.’

In recent seasons, the likes of Jed Wallace and Adam Webster have been key young talents who’ve departed Pompey.

Both men exited for around £750,000, with Wallace joining Championship outfit Wolves in 2015 and Webster moving to the same level as he linked up with Ipswich a year later.

Those were deals which took place to help the club balance the books through the period of community ownership.

Catlin stressed it’s a very different story now, however, under Eisner.

He added: ‘We worked up extremely well under fan ownership by balancing the books. That necessitated at times the sale of a player here or there.

‘We’re now in a completely different situation where there are no financial requirements to sell a player. That puts us in a very strong position.

‘I keep being asked the same question about the same players. It can end up fuelling what you don’t want.

‘I can only repeat we don’t want to sell any of our prized assets.’

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