'Whatever we can' - Leicester City transfer pledge issued

Portsmouth manager Danny Cowley has said that Portsmouth will do ‘whatever they can’ to sign Leicester City striker George Hirst again next season.

The 23-year-old joined Pompey on a season-long loan in the summer transfer window and has enjoyed his time at Fratton Park. He scored his 11th goal of the season in Tuesday night’s 3-0 win over former loan club Rotherham United, prompting chants of ‘sign him up’ being sung from the stands .

Following the game, Cowley made no secret of his desire for the forward to extend his time at the club either on loan or permanently. “George has been great and let’s hope we don’t have to replace him,” he told the News .

“We’d like to sign him, extend the loan, do whatever we can. We have to, these are the young players that we want to try to sign.

“I think their parent clubs have respected the way we’ve looked after them and helped them, supported them. I hope, as a consequence, our relationship with those clubs has got stronger and they trust us.

“Sometimes when players are on an upward curve and making rapid progress, you want to keep them going. I would if it was my loan player.”

Hirst has been with City since signing from sister club OH Leuven in the summer of 2019. He came on as a late substitute twice at the end of the 2019/20 season in his only two first-team appearances for the club so far.

“I still think that for George there’s another stepping stone before he gets into Leicester’s first-team, and I don’t mean to be disrespectful, I’m being realistic,” Cowley added.

“I just think this is a relationship which works, so why can’t we extend that or sign permanently? We haven’t got any number nines.

“I don’t know if it can happen, I want it to and would like it to, but I