Ambitious Tony Adams reveals his Euro vision for FA Cup winners Pompey - Sport - Evening Standard
       

Ambitious Tony Adams reveals his Euro vision for FA Cup winners Pompey

Portsmouth assistant manager Tony Adams is ready to sign a new contract at Fratton Park to fulfil the club's UEFA Cup ambitions as well as his own.  

The former Arsenal and England defender has just five weeks left on his current deal and was expected to look for a manager's job this summer before Pompey's FA Cup win against Cardiff last Saturday propelled them into Europe.  

But Adams, 41, whose only previous post as a manager was at Wycombe Wanderers whom he failed to save from relegation, is keen to assist manager Harry Redknapp plot the club's European adventure. 

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Dream team: Adams (left) is keen to carry on working with his mentor Redknapp

"Taking a team into Europe is something I haven't done and all of a sudden that becomes tempting," Adams said.  

"I've done two great years down here and it's been brilliant. Now we'll talk about about the future if they (Portsmouth) want to talk about the future, but I've got no other offers whatsoever at the moment.  

"And now there is the UEFA Cup to think about. I've never been a number two in that competition, and that's another dimension, I think.  

"If they offered me a position as number two again for another year, another two years or another three years I would definitely consider it.  

"If I want to go to Arsenal in five or 10 years' time, if I ever wanted to be manager of Manchester United, if I ever wanted to be England manager, I want to get that experience where you are taking a team to play another team in another country.  

"If I want to go on to be a manager and do something somewhere else then that's the kind of experience I would like to have."  

Meanwhile, Pompey chief executive Peter Storrie has dismissed speculation the club have joined the race to sign Mauro Zarate.  

The Argentinian forward has returned from a loan spell at Birmingham to United Arab Emirates club Al Sadd and is believed to be available for around £10million.  

"That's absolute nonsense. I don't know where that story has come from but he is not one of the players we are looking at," Storrie told the Portsmouth News.  

Liverpool striker Peter Crouch remains a target and Portsmouth have maintained their interest despite Rafael Benitez slapping a £15million price tag on the player.  

Crouch has twice played under Redknapp at Portsmouth and Southampton, with the manager making substantial profit for those clubs by selling him to Aston Villa and then Liverpool.  

Redknapp remains an admirer but would have to depend on Liverpool lowering the fee or offering Pompey players - possibly Croatian winger Niko Kranjcar - in exchange.

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