REVEALED: Portsmouth's stance on Bournemouth triallist Christian Saydee after Spanish tour exclusion

Although the Blues will continue to monitor the progress of the powerful Bournemouth striker.

The 20-year-old turned out for Danny Cowley’s men in pre-season friendlies against the Hawks and Gosport last weekend.

On each occasion, Saydee was named in the first-half side, featuring for 45 minutes.

Cowley has declined to talk about the former Burton Albion loanee, on account of being a contracted Bournemouth player.

However, The News understands that while presently nothing is progressing in terms of prolonging his stay, interest definitely remains.

Indeed, Saydee hasn’t travelled with the Blues to Spain for their week-long training camp – and neither have the other five triallists used at the weekend.

Nonetheless, while Pompey will not pursue Levi Andoh, Rumarn Burrell and Josh Gould, the door has not yet closed for the Cherries centre-forward.

Certainly Saydee impressed in the first half of Saturday’s 3-0 victory at Westleigh Park, catching the eye with his strength and strong running.

He looked tired in his second outing at Gosport, while missed a glorious first-half opportunity from close range in the 1-0 defeat.

Following the match, Cowley took Saydee aside on the Privett Park pitch to deliver a positive appraisal of his short time with the Blues.

The 20-year-old spent the second half of last season on loan at Burton, where he failed to score in 18 appearances.

However, just seven of those were starts, as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s side finished 16th in League One.

Pompey’s striker shortage has been well publicised, with just 18-year-old Dan Gifford currently contracted to the club.

Although the Blues are in the hunt for Cardiff’s James Collins, who is also interesting Derby, with the Rams back in the market for players having last week come out of administration.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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