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Having received support from Russian businessmen, one of the outsiders of the English Premier League continues to strengthen, announcing the acquisition of
and a final acquisition for the striker of the Zimbabwe national team. The African, whose transfer will cost 6 million euros, has become a record purchase for Portsmouth.
27-year-old B. Mwaruwari, who scored 11 goals in the French championship last season, was not a key player this year under Jacque Santini's coaching team and only managed to score once in over 20 games, most of which he started from the bench.
Nevertheless, the player, who was also being pursued by Marseille, attracted the attention of other clubs and chose the Portsmouth team, becoming the second striker to join Harry Redknapp's squad in just a couple of days - yesterday the club also announced the acquisition of Emmanuel Olisadebe, a Polish striker born in Nigeria.
"Benjani is fast and strong, he can successfully compete with other players. Last week I spoke with Arsene Wenger (coach of Arsenal in London), who said that if you can acquire him, jump on the next plane and bring him over as soon as possible," said H. Redknapp, recently returned to the coaching post at Portsmouth.
Together with B. Mwaruwari, who is leaving today to represent his country in the African Nations Cup tournament in Egypt, Portsmouth also introduced Alexander Gaydamak, the son of Russian billionaire Arkady Gaydamak, who acquired 50% of the club's shares.
29-year-old A. Gaydamak, with French and Russian citizenship, was delighted to become an equal owner of the club together with longstanding Portsmouth president Milan Mandaric, promising more investments and acquisitions, but rejecting comparisons with Roman Abramovich, who led Chelsea from the brink of bankruptcy to the English champions title.
"I see myself as someone who saw an opportunity and a very strong challenge, but I am certainly not a savior. I came here looking to the future, wanting to do something important," said A. Gaydamak - "There will also be more new players in the team. Now we fully support the coach and will strive to meet his needs."
