On this day: Portsmouth fans told Wigan ace and former Southampton striker wants dream Fratton Park move

The Wigan striker believed he could be the one to fire the Blues into Europe.

At the time, Pompey were told they could prise the 29-year-old away from the JJB Stadium for £4m.

Harry Redknapp was a massive admirer of the Senegal forward and had discussed him in depth during summit talks in Israel.

The News was told the Blues boss would move for Camara once he returned from Tel Aviv, where he was in talks about transfer targets with co-owners Sacha Gaydamak and Milan Mandaric, and chief executive Peter Storrie.

Camara was with Redknapp on loan at Southampton the previous year.

The Pompey manager’s admiration for the player was underlined when he ripped apart Pompey’s defence at Wigan in April of 2016.

And Camara’s agent at the time, Willie McKay, reckoned the striker could be even better playing in a team he believed were heading for greatness.

McKay told The News: ‘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.

‘Each of 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 £8.5m (Andy Johnson), who scores a high proportion of his goals from penalties.

‘Portsmouth fans saw what Henri Camara did on the penultimate day of the season at Wigan. He can do that to any defence in the Premier League.

‘Harry Redknapp likes him and they got on well when they were at Southampton.

‘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.’

Camara, of course, never made the move to Pompey, with Redknapp instead signing Kanu and Andy Cole that summer.