BREAKING: Portsmouth not giving up in battle for Chelsea starlet as Reading and FC Volendam maintain pursuit

The Blues have been pitched into a straight battle with FC Volendam to secure the Chelsea attacking midfielder on a season-long loan, with Reading also lurking.

Reports from Holland on Saturday claimed the 21-year-old had agreed a deal with the Eredivisie club.

However, John Mousinho is adamant that is not the case, with Anjorin’s destination still to be decided.

Certainly the Blues anticipate resolving their summer-long hunt for a number 10 soon, potentially by Saturday, although realistically sometime next week.

It remains to be seen whether that is Anjorin – although Pompey’s head coach insisting that particular target remains on their radar.

He told The News: ‘Anjorin is still a possibility until that is done and dusted.

‘I'm yet to hear anything on that, so then that’s still a possibility from our point of view.

‘I am optimistic, we are still pursuing that, although that is now out of our hands, it’s basically the player and Chelsea’s choice.

‘We’ll see how that progresses.’

‘Hopefully a new signing is going to be days rather than weeks in terms of being able to bring somebody into the building, but we want to make sure we get that final player right.

‘We have strengthened over the summer, we have brought in 12 new players and have that one more sport we want to fill barring anything that really pops up at the last minute or barring injuries.

‘We just want to make sure we get this one right because we think he’s a really important part of the squad.

‘Possibly a signing could be before Saturday, although I’d say that is maybe slightly soon.

‘But it’s not something that hopefully is not going to drag too far into August, so days rather than weeks if not this weekend – and hopefully resolved next week.’

Anjorin, who hails from Poole, has previously been on loan at Huddersfield and Lokomotiv Moscow, albeit both spells ended early by injury.

He has also totalled five appearances for Chelsea, representing them in the Premier League, Champions League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup.

Pompey hope his relationship with assistant head coach Jon Harley could prove decisive in their bid, having managed Anjorin in the Stamford Bridge Academy.

Yet the Blues have a Plan B, with other targets in their sights should this option fall through.

Mousinho added: ‘These are targets we’ve had on the table a long time and this is the last one that fits into place.

‘It’s not a case of us thinking at the last minute we want to put together a list of number eights of 10 and then going from there.

‘We have always had our eye on this, it’s just one which has developed a bit later than others.’