McKay Does It Again

After luring Ellington to West Bromwich Albion and orchestrating Chimbonda’s proposed transfer Tottenham Hotspur, Willie McKay is trying to move Henri Camara on to Portsmouth.

Redknapp, who worked with Camara at Southampton, is rumoured to be preparing a £4 million bid for Camara and McKay, as ever, is paving the way with comments to the press.

McKay, a friend of Redknapp, said : ‘He’s a player with tremendous pace who scores goals and creates things.

‘Imagine him getting a chance to play with players like Andres D’Alessandro and Pedro Mendes, with the balls they would be putting through from midfield.

‘He scored four goals in the African Cup of Nations for Senegal and 12 in the Premier League for a Wigan side who, no disrespect, were not expected to stay up.

‘All his goals came from his pace or were made by himself rather than coming from midfield.

‘It’s not like a player who has gone to Everton from Crystal Palace for £8.5million (Andy Johnson), who scores a high proportion of his goals from penalties.’

‘I think Portsmouth will be in Europe next year. I think the players they got in the last transfer window, with a few additions, are good enough to take them into the UEFA Cup places.

‘The number of points they got towards the end of the season was amazing. It was Champions League form.’

Redknapp said: ‘I like Henri Camara. But I haven’t spoken to Paul Jewell at Wigan. Whether he would sell him, I don’t know.’