Portsmouth hit the jackpot with huge £7m transfer gamble – He helped Pompey write Wembley Stadium history
In the summer of 2007, Portsmouth brought in a host of new players on permanent deals, with the likes of Sylvain Distin, David Nugent, Glen Johnson and Papa Bouba Diop among those moving to Fratton Park.
Among their spree, though, was a fairly major gamble on the signing of Ghana international midfielder Sulley Muntari, who signed from Serie A side Udinese for a fee believed to be in the region of a club-record £7 million.
Muntari had begun to establish himself in the Friulians’ side in Italy, but, at the age of 22, it was still a fairly big risk for Pompey to make such a significant financial outlay that saw them break their club-record fee on an unknown quantity in English football.
Not only did the move for Muntari reap its rewards on the pitch, but he also helped them out off the pitch with his sale a year later, and it was a move whereby Pompey had certainly hit the jackpot.
Muntari’s impressive season at Portsmouth
Portsmouth got off to a brilliant start in the 2007/08 campaign.
Just two defeats in their opening 16 matches of the season had Pompey looking capable of challenging for a top four finish and UEFA Champions League qualification at one stage.
Under the management of Harry Redknapp, his side played an entertaining style of football that also produced the highest-scoring Premier League match of all time, as Portsmouth defeated Reading by seven goals to four.
Muntari notched Pompey’s seventh in that 11-goal thriller at Fratton Park in late-September, and he had already established himself as a key player within the opening couple of months of the campaign.
Perhaps his standout performance at Pompey came in mid-December though, as they launched themselves into fifth place with a 3-1 win at Villa Park against Aston Villa thanks to two screamers from Muntari either side of half-time.
The real magic and memorable moment of Muntari, though, came in the FA Cup as the club won the competition for the second time ever, and Muntari played a crucial role as a key starter at Wembley Stadium in the semi-finals and the final against West Bromwich Albion and Cardiff City.
In the quarter-final, away from home at Old Trafford against eventual title winners Manchester United, Muntari scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot with 12 minutes of normal time to play to knock the Red Devils out.
For a fee of £7 million, Portsmouth had got themselves a player who could not only start but dominate Premier League matches from midfield, as well as someone who was instrumental in winning them a major honour and thus also qualifying them for Europe.
Muntari’s move to Inter and beyond
After such a brilliant first year in England, Muntari then became a sought-after midfielder, and a return to Italy came in the summer of 2008.
José Mourinho’s Internazionale came calling, and a deal worth around £11 million was agreed between the two clubs.
Muntari, who had been brilliant on the pitch, had now earned Pompey a comfortable profit for just a year’s work, and a year’s work that produced so much.
It may well have been viewed as a gamble at the time, but Portsmouth certainly got their money’s worth from Muntari, and some, both on and off the pitch.
At Inter, he made 80 appearances in his first two seasons and helped the Italian giants win the treble in 2010, before joining Sunderland on loan mid-way through the 2010/11 campaign and then AC Milan on loan mid-way through the following season.
He eventually moved to Milan on a permanent basis before finishing his career with short stints at Al Ittihad, Pescara, Deportivo La Coruna, Albacete and then Ghanaian club Hearts of Oak respectively.
Muntari joined Portsmouth with a significant amount of risk attached to his arrival, but, as he proved both at Fratton Park and in two seasons at San Siro, he was actually someone who it could be argued was one of the better midfielders in Europe during his heyday.
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