On this day: Pompey insist Taylor's not for sale... Redknapp eyes five new recruits

The Blues called the £5m valuation of the midfielder ‘laughable’, with Liverpool, Aston Villa and Everton all said to be chasing the 25-year-old.

But Pompey weren't interested in selling a player who scored eight top-flight goals for them in the 2006-07 season.

Taylor had become a wanted man after building a reputation as a scorer of spectacular goals from midfield.

Only four midfielders netted more Premiership goals than Taylor’s eight that season – Cristiano Ronaldo, Frank Lampard, Gilberto Silva and Mikel Arteta.

Taylor scored against two of the sides eyeing him, with a double against Aston Villa and a 45-yard strike versus Everton.

Some reports at the time claimed Taylor had opened talks with Villa over a move.

But Pompey revealed they had received no inquiries about the former England under-21 international.

Blues chief executive Peter Storrie told The News: ‘He’s a midfield player who scored eight Premiership goals last season, and the figure being quoted is £5m.

‘Think again. You’re having a laugh. He’s worth a lot more than that.

‘He’s done well for us, played almost every game last season and scored a lot of goals.

‘We’re not interested in selling him, and even if we were, it certainly wouldn’t be for that price.

‘We’ve read the rumours, but we’ve not had any inquiries for him at all.’

Pompey boss Harry Redknapp also insisted an exit for Taylor was nothing more than talk.

He said: ‘I think someone’s being mischievous.

'We want to keep Matt Taylor.

‘We never keep players against their will. If he said he wanted to go, we’d have to look at the situation. But Matty’s never given an indication that’s the case.

‘Why would we want to sell him?’

Meanwhile, on this day in 2008, The News was reporting how Pompey wanted five players to bolster their chances of UEFA Cup glory.

Harry Redknapp and Peter Storrie had drawn up a blueprint they were convinced could make them even more of a force during the 2008-09 season.

And that would consist of at least five new additions during the summer.

Among them would be three quality performers aimed at swelling the first-team numbers.

Pompey also wanted an additional two to boost their squad, with the rigors of long European and Premier League programmes in mind.

At least two strikers were a priority, along with a wide man, a central defender and a left-back.

Storrie said: ‘We want three quality, quality players. We are a quality side now so you need to bring in quality players.

‘Then again, we’ve got to look at the squad size because of the UEFA Cup next year. You need to get a reasonable squad.

‘There are a couple of players we are thinking of bringing in to add to the squad so it would be a mixture of three quality players and the other two are good players to make sure we have a big enough squad.

‘With the UEFA Cup, we have one game in the first round home and away. If we win that we are through to the group stages.

‘There are four matches there – two at home and two away – on a league basis and then it goes back to a knockout situation.

‘So effectively you can have an awful lot of games – just getting into the last 16 is eight matches. It’s a lot.'