The new addition may have already won over the Fratton Park crowd!
Portsmouth completed a slew of signings during the summer transfer window in preparation for new promotion aspirations.
Many players, including Gavin Whyte, Regan Poole, and Anthony Scully, have moved to the south coast and will now be entrusted with taking Pompey back to the second tier of English football for the first time in almost a decade.
Tino Anjorin, who signed a loan agreement with the club on Thursday, is another high-profile addition.
Tino Anjorin, the new Portsmouth signing, who is he?
The offensive midfielder has signed on loan from Chelsea, where he has long been regarded for his performances for the club’s academy.
Anjorin came through Chelsea’s junior system alongside players like Callum Hudson-Odoi, Reece James, Conor Gallagher, and Billy Gilmour.
Anjorin, who can also play as a winger, spent last season on loan at Huddersfield Town, albeit he only appeared on nine times for the Terriers due to injury.
He scored twice in the league last season, both in a 2-2 home draw with West Bromwich Albion.
Anjorin’s tenure in West Yorkshire was extended after he made eight appearances at the second half of the 2021/22 season as Huddersfield pushed towards the play-offs.
Prior to that, he spent six months with Lokomotiv Moscow, where then-manager Ralf Rangnick compared him to Kevin De Bruyne, incorporating a £17m purchase option into the deal and un-retiring the club’s famed number 10 shirt in a significant show of faith and an illustration of Anjorin’s quality.
Now, he’ll be desperate to make an impact away from Chelsea and live up to the undeniable promise that once made him one of the country’s most coveted young players.
Portsmouth may provide an opportunity to do so, and judging on his recent comments about fierce rivals Southampton, he has already won over the club’s supporters.
What has Tino Anjorin of Portsmouth said about Southampton?
As is customary in English football, both opposing groups of supporters participate in a never-ending dispute about whose club is larger, and Anjorin has decided to sink his teeth into the age-old debate, thinking his new side to be superior to their opponents in Hampshire.
Moreover, despite his Cobham schooling, Anjorin was born and reared in Dorset, making it difficult to deny that he is well-qualified to make such a contentious declaration.
Anjorin told Portsmouth News after completing his move from Chelsea, “I know Portsmouth is a massive club.” Because I’m from the south, I know they’re a greater club than Bournemouth or Southampton.
“We must return Pompey to their rightful place.” Pompey are not a League One or a Championship club; they are a Premier League club.
“I guess this is about taking the first steps back up to those levels, so the goal now is to get promoted.”
Is it true that Portsmouth is a bigger club than Southampton?
While Anjorin’s words are unlikely to resolve this lengthy argument, he may be correct.
To be sure, Southampton has prospered in the Premier League and dabbled in European competition with stars like Sadio Mane and Virgil Van Dijk in recent years, while Pompey has struggled in the lower ranks.
However, history may well be on Portsmouth’s favour, given they have won more domestic titles throughout the years.
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