How Manchester City, Arsenal and QPR benefited from Portsmouth's well-publicised financial woes

Perhaps most enticing of all, he was bequeathed Harry Redknapp’s war chest – seemingly bottomless Pompey coffers which previously bankrolled a number of stunning high-profile transfer captures.

Following Adams’ engagement as Blues manager in October 2008, within a month chairman Sacha Gaydamak declared the Fratton Park spending sprees were over as the financial implosion took hold.

Pompey’s recruitment team, which included head of performance analysis Michael Edwards, later to become Liverpool’s sporting director, had assembled a list of rising stars across Europe.

Yet from negotiating with Yaya Toure, Edin Dzeko, Per Mertesacker, Joey Barton and Giovani Dos Santos, suddenly the Blues were recruiting Hayden Mullins, Angelos Basinas and Theofanis Gekas.

Adams told The News: ‘We had a very talented recruitment department at that moment in time. Among them was Eddie, who has since done brilliantly at Liverpool.

‘Those guys did a lot of fantastic work for me. Per Mertesacker, Edin Dzeko, Yaya Toure – we were looking at all these players.

‘Then suddenly it was: “Thanks for preparing that list, guys. Unfortunately we no longer have the money”.

‘We offered ourselves as a stepping stone and that was our advantage. We said: “Look, if you want to go to the sooper dooper clubs, the big financial ones which win the Premier League, this is a good shop window”.

‘We’d tell them to join Pompey first, they would get exposure and, before you knew it, could be off to bigger clubs. That’s how we got through the front door and sat down with agents.

‘Then, suddenly, you have to look at other players because you haven't got the finances to back that up.

‘With Yaya Toure, Peter (Storrie) sat down with his agent, I never met his representation, so I don’t know whether that was a truth or not.

‘I can tell you, honestly, that Per Mertesacker was close. I negotiated with Edin Dzeko as well and that was close, I spoke to the agent.’

Dzeko captured Pompey’s attention during preparations for their Uefa Cup encounter with Wolfsburg in December 2008.

The Bosnia & Herzegovina international striker would net in that 3-2 defeat for the Blues, yet strengthened their resolve to bring him to the Premier League.

However, despite agreeing a fee, the move collapsed, ensuring Dzeko remained with the Bundesliga side.

In January 2011 – two years later – he moved for Manchester City in a £27m deal, subsequently netting 72 times in 187 appearances.

Adams added: ‘We did so much work with Dzeko. He was on Wolfsburg’s training camp in Seville and I had spoken to his agent.

‘I said to our chief executive: “Peter, get on the plane. Get down there and do the deal”. We had him for £8m at that point. I later learnt Peter didn’t get on the plane. We didn’t get the deal because we didn’t have the money.

‘Dzeko came to our attention because we were playing against Wolfsburg in the Uefa Cup, where we also saw him at first hand.

‘The analysis boys prepared for every game we played, so we’d get a good idea of the opposition. I’ll always remember, they came into my office and said “Boss, boss, boss, you’ve got to have a look at this. This player is incredible”.

‘Dzeko reminded me so much of Alan Smith at Arsenal. He was very similar, good in the air and of a similar build.

‘The only reason we were looking at him was because we were analysing him ahead of the game. He was a little bit under the radar at that point, so it would have been a good steal.

‘I had negotiated with the agent, they were buying a replacement from France so there was a little bit of a chain. They were quite happy with the player they were getting from the French team so were prepared to let Dzeko go to us for £8m.

‘It just needed Peter to go and do the deal. He didn’t.’

Also on Pompey’s radar was Yaya Toure, at the time with Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona, yet having lost his first-team midfield place to Sergio Busquets.

He was recruited by Manchester City 18 months later in a deal worth around £24m, subsequently establishing himself as a Premier League powerhouse performer.

Elsewhere, representatives of 24-year-old Mertesacker had journeyed to Fratton Park to hold fruitful discussions.

The German international centre-half instead moved to Arsenal in August 2011, going on to win the FA Cup three times during his seven seasons as a North London regular.

While Joey Barton, then with Newcastle and whom later joined QPR, was another Adams sought to bring to Fratton Park.

‘Toure was going to be on £77,000 a week or something ridiculous,’ said Adams.

‘When I’d been in the job three or four weeks, Peter came in with a few targets, a few agents he was talking to and a few players flagged up as potential signings. Among them was Toure.

‘I didn't for one minute believe he would sign, but it's a fact that he was on that list. Peter told me he’d spoken to the agent and was lining up the deal.

‘It didn’t materialise and a couple of weeks later the owner pulled the plug on finances and it got ripped up and we started again.

‘With Mertesacker, I had sat down with his agent at Fratton Park. He was at Werder Bremen and I liked the way they played zonal, they had a bit of an idea

‘Having been in a back four for all those years, I appreciated how he knew to hold lines and let players run onto others. That was really interesting for me.

‘I met Joey Barton at the Dorchester Hotel, in London, and he was prepared to come and give it a go and to fight.

‘He was up for it, his attitude was spot on. I always liked meeting the players.

‘Joey would have come down and done us a job, he might have been a character to get us out of trouble for a couple of years and I was willing to do that, yet it was the money situation again.’

With Pompey’s sights having been considerably lowered during the January 2009 transfer window, there was one final big name they had the opportunity to sign.

Spurs were prepared to loan out Mexican forward Giovani Dos Santos for the remainder of the campaign, having recruited him from Barcelona six months earlier.

On this occasion, however, Adams rejected a player who would go on to make 106 appearances for his country.

He added: ‘Dos Santos came down and failed his bleep test and failed his medical. Unfortunately that move couldn’t go through.

‘He was out of shape. It was January and I needed someone who could play for the rest of the season, alongside Peter (Crouch) and snap in straight away.

‘There was no point doing three weeks with him to get him into shape, you might be gone there, it could be relegation, it's all over.

‘I gave him the sad news and said “You’re just not ready to go. Let’s talk about it again in the summer. If the deal’s still there then we’ll do it, but at the moment I need someone to come into the team and hit the ground running because at the moment we are bang in trouble”.

‘Dos Santos had a history with injury, I think he broke his ankle when with the Barcelona B team under Guardiola and had a bit of an issue there.

‘It was too much of a gamble and we didn’t have too much money.’

Just eight days after the January 2009 transfer window shut, Adams was dismissed as Pompey boss following a 3-2 home defeat to Liverpool.

And it was left to Paul Hart to preserve their Premier League status.

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