Younes – ‘the man sent to deliver’ – Johnson’s Replacement Part I of IV

This past week has seen Pompey lose their most talented right-back of recent times, to league runners-up Liverpool. Whilst every fan knew in the back of their mind that Johnson would move on to bigger and better things, perhaps many preferred it wouldn’t have come so soon.

As a result of Johnson’s £17.5m departure, we need a replacement, a replacement for a current England international. Surely one cannot be too hard to find…

First let us evaluate the options we have in our current threadbare squad. We have the young, talented makeshift right-back in Younes Kaboul, the ageing but lovable Linvoy Primus, the rather inexperienced Marc Wilson and England under-21 talent, Martin Cranie.

At this moment in time, the club are in a state of limbo, with due diligence yet to be confirmed as completed and the looming prospect of the Premier League’s ‘fit and proper owner test’ yet to even begin. Amongst other things, the Blues do not have a permanent manager and many players are unsure of what future they have with the club.

Whilst executive chairman Peter Storrie has stressed to fans that players have been identified and scouted through Pompey’s ‘extensive scouting system’, the question is whether the new manager will want to sign any of these players…

Another question would be what is the quality of these players scouted? So far, estimated guesses could be made that Le Mans UC72 ‘keeper Yohann Pelé and South Africa captain Aaron Mokoena are at least two of the players on Pompey’s wish list.

If reports are to be believed, Mokoena is expected to join Pompey on the 8th July and will sign a three-year contract. However, the transfer is yet to be confirmed by the club or denied for that matter. Mokoena can play as a holding midfielder as well as a central defender.

If Mokoena was to sign, some fans have suggested that Mokoena may be considered a replacement for club captain Sol Campbell, whom is set to leave the club this summer.

When Younes Kaboul signed for the club in the summer of 2008, Kaboul was quoted as saying: ‘There are experienced players like Sol (Campbell) and Sylvain (Distin) who I can watch and learn from. It can only help me to play alongside them.’

Kaboul was content to bide his time and play second fiddle to the two experienced centre-halves. He was groomed as a natural replacement for the ageing Sol Campbell and when Campbell was unable to perform last season, on occasions due to injury, Kaboul would often feature alongside French pal Sylvain Distin.

Fans were impressed by his gritty nature, his determined attitude and his attacking threat. He withheld an intimidating stance and provided a moment of joy when opening the scoring against European giants A.C Milan back in November.

On few occasions last season when player-of-the-year Johnson was unable to play, Kaboul was often given the nod to play in his position. Whilst not possessing the same skill as Johnson, Kaboul proved he had the pace, strength and passing ability to prove himself as a worthy candidate. It was from the right-back position in which he scored a fabulous goal against recently relegated West Brom, driving a shot into the top left-hand corner of the goal.

His performances were of such quality that when Johnson was available to play, Johnson instead would feature on the right-hand side of midfield, almost suggesting that Kaboul could not be dropped.

A dilemma remains for the next Portsmouth manager; either groom Kaboul as a centre-half, a position he has played throughout his career, or let him develop as a right-back and see where the future takes him.