Portsmouth owner Milan Mandaric has confirmed that Town skipper Matt Holland is one of a number of players his club are currently talking to. Reports earlier today indicated that Holland was a £1 million Pompey target.

Mandaric says that a deal with Holland is by no means done and that there is work to do: "We are talking to one or two players, one of whom is Matt Holland, but we are still some way off signing him."

Holland's agent Jonathan Barnett concurs that there is still plenty to be done before Holland's switch to the south coast is confirmed: "We are still miles away from agreeing anything with Portsmouth.

"As things stand right now, Matt is still an Ipswich player and I cannot see that changing in the near future.

"He is currently on duty with the Republic of Ireland and is then planning a holiday with his family.

"But we have informed him of Portsmouth's interest and he has indicated he would be interested in going there. Matt wants to play in the Premiership."

Holland himself is not paying too much attention to developments with important Ireland matches against Albania and Georgia in the next week. He told the Colchester Evening Gazette: "I believe they may have contacted my agent, along with a couple of other clubs, but I'm on international duty until next week and then I'm going on holiday, so nothing could happen as quickly as they [newspapers] are saying.

"I don't know whether they've been in touch with Ipswich or Joe Royle.

"The only thing I'm concentrating on right now are the two games coming up for Ireland.

"Domestically, at the moment, I'm not thinking about anything other than another season with Ipswich."

Although £1 million was the price widely quoted this morning, a later story says that Town may receive as little as £750,000 for their skipper. Recently Southampton were reported to have shown an interest in the 29-year-old midfielder.

Town boss Joe Royle would love to keep Holland at Portman Road but with his wages approaching £20,000-a-week the club are in a position to accept offers for their skipper.

Holland joined Town for £800,000 six years ago from Bournemouth. The Cherries would get 25% of anything the Blues might receive above Holland's 1997 fee.

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