The Italian heading Portsmouth search for European talent

Roberto Gagliardi arrived at Fratton Park in March 2018 and has already been credited with recruiting teenage keeper Petar Durin.

Appointed head of European scouting and formerly a recruitment consultant with Bolton, he is working closely with Phil Boardman and Kenny Jackett plotting future signings.

Gagliardi, a goalkeeper during his playing days, has also seen service at Fulham, AC ChievoVerona and, more recently, Leyton Orient.

Now he has been challenged to unearth European talent to bolster Pompey.

'˜Roberto is based in London but does a lot of work in Ireland, Scotland and mainland Europe, that is part of the increase in our scouting network,' said Boardman, Pompey's head of recruitment.

'˜It's important not to lose sight of the domestic market, so he is helping us with that as well. The more options and more players we can put in front of Kenny and the coaching staff hopefully means we are going to get better players.

'˜Roberto was involved in the Petar Durin signing. He had some knowledge of Petar's situation with Atalanta and got some information from contacts over in Italy.

'˜He was able to take advantage of Petar's contract situation with Atalanta, that was one we wouldn't have known about if it hadn't been for his contacts.'

Another scouting addition is Kevin Bond, a name certainly familiar with Pompey followers.

Formerly assistant manager to Alan Ball, the ex-defender later worked with Harry Redknapp during both his Fratton Park spells, before following him to Southampton, Spurs, QPR and Birmingham.

Now the 61-year-old is responsible for identifying talent on a local scale.

Boardman added: '˜Kevin is a really respected and experienced member of staff, someone that has come into the team and worked really well with us.

'˜He is based around the local areas, with a really good knowledge of players based in the south.

'He also has an affinity with the club which we have been able to utilise and his experience has been invaluable on a number of occasions.

'˜Kevin has been a really good addition to what we have been doing so far and UK based with his work, concentrating on domestic players.'

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