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Utaka set for top-flight return

Image: Utaka: Set to leave

Andrew Andronikou is confident John Utaka will be a Premier League player again by the end of the month.

Pompey hope to sell Nigerian before deadline

Portsmouth administrator Andrew Andronikou is confident John Utaka will be a Premier League player again by the end of the month. Pompey are eager to offload the Nigerian forward as they look to raise the £4million needed to reach their £12m target from summer player sales. Andronikou confirmed that although no firm offer has been tabled yet, there have been plenty of enquiries about the 28-year-old. And Pompey are so eager to cash in before the transfer window shuts, they would be willing to drop the asking price is the deadline approaches. "We want to sell Utaka and he has also made himself clear he wants to leave," he told The News. "There have been a number of clubs who have been taking interest, which is obviously encouraging.

Price tag

"We have put a price tag on him - but the closer we get to the transfer window closing, it will be coming down. "However, I will be very surprised if he is still at the club after the transfer window. "I'm very confident he will go, most likely to the Premier League. There are one or two Premier League clubs which feel he could do a job. "Others include one in Scotland, three in France and a long time ago there was one in Saudi Arabia. "But I think he will end up in the Premier League." Pompey received around £5m from Genoa for Kevin-Prince Boateng this summer, while David James and Pape Bouba Diop have also left the club following relegation from the Premier League last season.

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