Pompey's Nigel Atangana moving on

Leyton Orient, Crawley and Ebbsfleet are among those clubs trailing the out-of-favour midfielder.

Atangana has already been told by Cook there will be no new deal when his existing contract expires at the season’s end.

The Frenchman’s last appearance was at Carlisle in November and since has seen Danny Hollands, Ben Close and Adam Barton preferred as one of the two holding midfielders.

With Paul Cook keen to reduce his sizeable squad this month, Atangana has been a prime candidate, alongside Matt Tubbs.

A broken leg for Hollands at Ipswich earlier this month potentially opened the door for the Frenchman, while Michael Doyle has played through injury.

As a result, Atangana travelled with the team to Accrington Stanley last weekend with the possibility of being named on the bench.

Instead the game was called off because of a frozen pitch.

On Tuesday night Barton partnered Doyle in midfield, with Close on the bench – yet there was no Atangana once again in the squad.

It means he has been named only once in Pompey’s last 10 squads, despite being available.

Atangana joined Pompey from the Hawks for an undisclosed fee in the summer of 2014.

He has made 48 appearances, scoring once.