Mensah off to Pompey?

Ghanaian defender John Mensah could follow striker Frederic Piquionne away from Lyon to English side Portsmouth.Mensah, who has played primarily as a centre-back for Lyon but has also been used at right-back, only moved to the Stade Gerland one year ago, signing with from Stade Rennais. While considered a strong, powerful component of the Bretons’ back-four, his time with Lyon was dogged by injury problems as well as inconsistent form on the park. Lyon have already indicated that they are willing to allow the 26-year-old to find himself a new club, concerned that his growth as a player is being stunted sitting on their bench. In addition, Lyon probably feel that he is wasting valuable space on the wage bill, as Mathieu Bodmer has emerged as the club’s third-choice centre-back behind Cris and Jean-Alain Boumsong. Portsmouth are proposing a move for Mensah similar to the one that took Piquionne to Fratton Park. Ideally, the club would like to purchase the former Genoa defender on a loan basis to begin with, although it is also reported that an option to buy the player could be included in the deal. Having initially bought Mensah for €7-million, it is considered that this would be the buy-out fee. The Premier League club will have been pleased with the contribution of Piquionne to date. The former Monaco and Saint-Etienne striker scored twice as he helped Pompey to a 2-0 friendly win over Rangers, scoring once in each half.