The League One champion in whopping £12.7m transfer chase year on from leaving Portsmouth
He started as Portsmouth won League One against Barnsley in April last year. Now the former Chelsea starlet is valued at £12.7m and being chased by Juventus, Atalanta & Co.
He was the transfer priority who ‘fully expected to join Pompey’ last year.
Yet frustratingly for John Mousinho, a move for Chelsea’s Tino Anjorin could never be seen to fruition, as a permanent deal was sought for the midfielder.
Anjorin had just completed a season-long loan in which he’d finished strongly and helped his temporary employers to the League One title, following a campaign in which he’d dealt with another serious injury problem in a career blighted by fitness issues.
A move for the 23-year-old never got over the line, however, as frustration mounted with the Blues also missing out on a deal for his Aussie team-mate Alex Robertson.
Instead for Anjorin a leftfield switch to Italian side Empoli presented itself at the end of August, with the Poole-born talent making the unlikely move to Serie A.
The opportunity seemed to catch even the gifted Chelsea academy product by surprise, after a season which hit a testing low after suffering a serious hamstring injury in the November 2023 FA Cup loss at Chesterfield.
Former Chelsea man: I fully expected to be rejoining Pompey
Anjorin said to the BBC last December: ‘I fully expected to be rejoining Portsmouth permanently this summer, they will always be in my heart, so if someone told me then I'd be playing Milan at San Siro - I'd have laughed at them.
‘It all happened so quickly, even when the opportunity was first brought to me, I didn't believe it.’
He helped Empoli to a surprisingly strong start, as they went eight games unbeaten in all competitions before their form crashed around Christmas.
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A terrible 19-game winless run followed, though they made it to the semi-finals of the Copa Italia for the first time, but Anjorin was hit by another thigh injury in February which left him sidelined.
The talent who made his Premier League debut at 18 was rushed back for Azzuri Empolesi’s run-in, where he scored the leveller against Venezia in April and a delightful winner against Parma the following month.
It wasn’t to be enough, however, as Roberto D’Aversa’s side went down with a final-day loss to Verona, but Anjorin’s displays haven’t gone unnoticed.
Torino, Champions League outfit Atalanta and Italian giants Juventus are among those now reportedly keen on the player who made 14 appearances at Fratton Park.
A £12.7m valuation has been slapped on Anjorin’s head with two years to run on his Empoli agreement, who also have a 12-month option on their player.
Another move for the former Huddersfield and Lokomotiv Moscow man this summer is also set to benefit his former Premier League side, with Chelsea reportedly gaining 50 per cent of any fee generated for an Anjorin move.
It’s a staggering fee for a player who has generated such hope as a one of the game’s bright, young things but also faced an unrelenting tale of injury woe to test his resolve to the limit.
Frustratingly for Mousinho it underlines why he was so keen to do a deal for Anjorin, with Pompey missing out on the talent who is now generating such talk 1,000 miles from PO4.