Portsmouth transfer latest with striker set to depart amid front-line surgery
Details over Pompey’s plans for Makenzie Kirk next season.
Makenzie Kirk is set to continue his English football education away from Fratton Park.
The News understands Pompey are exploring the possibility of sending the striker out on loan next season.
Loan pathway for Northern Ireland under-21 international
The Blues view a temporary stint away from PO4 as the best pathway for Kirk, following his arrival from St Johnstone last summer.
The 22-year-old arrived to supplement Pompey’s striking department on the final day of the transfer window.
But Kirk has found regular playing time hard to come by at this formative stage of his stay at Fratton Park, making 14 appearances with four of those outings coming as starts.
Pompey view the former Hearts player as a striker full of potential, but one who still needs time to become accustomed to step up from the Scottish Championship to the English second tier. That makes a League One stint the natural fit for his development.
Kirk is coming to the close of the first year of the three-year deal he agreed when moving south of the border.
Pompey currently have Colby Bishop and Thomas Waddingham as their other contracted strikers for next season.
Bishop will remain a front-line option, but a lack of a Championship-ready alternative to the 29-year-old was exposed last season amid a drop-off in form.
Waddingham spent most of the campaign on the sidelines due to a quad issue, with the Aussie pencilled in to be the alternative option to Bishop.
Pompey view the Brisbane Roar signing as better placed to vie for playing time than Kirk at present, with the likelihood he will stay at PO4 next term.
The club’s football operations do feel it necessary to bring in some additional competition in the number nine position this summer, as reported by The News on Sunday.
Sporting director, Rich Hughes, acknowledged doing so would be a priority moving forward.
Speaking at a recent Tony Goodall Fans’ Conference meeting Hughes said: ‘We do want to add to and strengthen the top end of the pitch. So it’s definitely a position we’ll prioritise and add to in the summer.'