Portsmouth title-winner and ex-Chelsea man secures £5m Italian transfer - just six weeks after Serie A relegation agony

A Pompey League One title winner has made a swift return to Serie A - just six weeks after he exited.

Tino Anjorin’s maiden season with Empoli ended in disappointment when they suffered relegation, having finished in the bottom three.

The 23-year-old had elected to join the Italians from Chelsea in August 2024, despite interest from Pompey over turning a Fratton Park loan spell into a permanent deal.

The attacking midfielder subsequently scored twice and registered three assists in 22 matches for Empoli as they finished in 18th position in Serie A.

Yet six weeks following their relegation to Serie B, Anjorin finds himself back in the top flight of Italian football after moving to Torino on a three-year deal.

The fee has been reported as £5m, with former club Chelsea expected to receive 50 per cent of the sale in recognition of the sell-on clause they negotiated with Empoli in the transfer 11 months ago.

Still, the switch hands Anjorin another chance in Serie A with a Torino side which finished 11th last season - 13 points above the relegated Empoli.

Flourishing reputation

Clearly the former Pompey loanee’s reputation is continuing to flourish after an injury-hampered last few years, especially at Fratton Park.

Signed on a season-long loan from Chelsea in August 2023 to bolster John Mousinho’s side’s promotion ambition, he subsequently featured just 14 times, scoring twice.

That was primarily down to a hamstring injury he suffered in November 2023 during an FA Cup clash at Chesterfield, which sidelined the attacker for five months.

At the time, he had scored twice in his previous five matches, having been eased into first-team duty by the Blues’ medical team off the back of a chequered injury history with Chelsea.

Frustratingly, 44 minutes into the FA Cup clash with the Spireites, Anjorin tore his hamstring while closing down an opponent. While initially estimated to be an eight-week absence, he didn’t return until April 2024.

He then started the 3-2 success over Barnsley which captured the League One title, although was off the pitch for the dramatic finale, while was also in the line-up for the final match against Lincoln.

Portsmouth keen on a deal

Despite his game time being devastated by injury, Mousinho was eager to bring back Anjorin on a permanent basis last summer, with Pompey pursuing him into August.

However, with Chelsea keen to sell a player in the final 12 months of his contract, the former Huddersfield loanee decided to make the switch to Empoli in the final few days of the summer transfer window.

His stay in Tuscany was not without its injury complications, missing two-and-a-half months following a 4-1 defeat at Juventus in February, but he returned to feature at the season’s end.

Anjorin’s final Empoli outing was a 31-minute appearance off the bench against Hellas Verona in the last match of the campaign, with a 2-1 defeat condemning them to the drop.

Now he’s back in Serie A, this time with Turin-based Torino, having signed a deal until the summer of 2028, with an option.

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