'Those rumours are true' - Brisbane Roar boss confirms bid accepted for Portsmouth, Sheffield Wednesday and QPR-linked striker

But the under-pressure head coach refused to confirm whether the deal had been struck with the Blues - despite reports Down Under that Pompey had emerged as the frontrunners for the in-demand 19-year-old’s signature.

The development comes after Waddingham - who has also been heavily linked with Sheffield Wednesday and QPR - was not included in Roar’s match-day squad for their 1-0 defeat at the hands of Melbourne City on Saturday.

The Australia under-19 international had started all 12 of Brisbane’s games up until the fixture at AAMI Park, scoring four goals.

When asked if the player’s absence was related to ongoing transfer speculation about his future, Zadkovich responded: ‘Yeah it is, those rumours are true.

‘Like I’ve been saying for a few weeks, there’s been a lot of interest around Tommy – and rightly so.

‘I’m not going to talk about the inner workings of that deal, but let’s just say it’s a positive for Tommy and his career and it’s a positive for our club financially.’

When specifically asked whether Pompey were the club to reach an agreement with Roar, Zadkovich opted not to go into any further detail.

He said: ‘Look, there’s been a couple of offers to be honest and until it’s concrete, I’m not really going to comment on who that is.’

News of Pompey’s interest in Waddingham emerged this week, with the striker valued at €400k by Transfermarkt.com. The youngster is considered one of the hottest prospects in the A-League and has attracted interest from Spurs and Bayern Munich following his emergence.

In 34 appearances for Brisbane, following his breakthrough season last year, the teenager has bagged 11 goals and registered two assists for the division’s bottom-placed side.

Strong Aussie contingent already in place at Fratton Park

If Fratton Park turns out to be his new home, the teenager will take the number of Australia natives in the Pompey ranks to four, with Kusini Yengi, Jacob Farrell and loanee Sammy Silvera all currently at the club.

On Friday the Edinburgh Evening News linked the Blues to another Aussie, Cammy Devlin, with our colleagues north of the border claiming Pompey had been tracking the midfielder ‘for some time’.

The Blues sold forward Elias Sorensen to Norwegian top-flight side Valerenga for €300k on Thursday. Meanwhile, with Yengi currently sidelined until early February with a knee injury picked up on international duty, and Brighton loanee Mark O’Mahony also presently unavailable for selection because of a side strain, Pompey are expected to add to their attacking ranks during the January transfer window.

To date, the Blues have signed two players this month, with both Rob Atkinson and Isaac Hayden arriving on loans from Bristol City and Newcastle respectively.