Portsmouth’s five most expensive signings, including Club World Cup runner up and Champions League winner

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Portsmouth are entering their second consecutive season in the Championship after spending some time in the third division of English football.

The club are looking to make moves in the summer transfer window to help ensure they maintain their Championship status, with fans dreaming of the club getting back to the Premier League one day.

Portsmouth have not been in the English top flight since 2012, when the club faced a financial disaster that had a detrimental impact upon the club.

They have now turned a corner and look in better control of their finances, which may mean the club will not opt to splash the cash the way they once did.

As John Swift could not be tempted to the south coast, it demonstrates the lack of pull Portsmouth now have.

However, at one stage the club were happy to spend the money more freely on their five most expensive signings ever.

EFL Analysis brings you the five most expensive signings in Portsmouth’s history.

• READ MORE: Every confirmed Portsmouth signing and sale this summer plus latest transfer rumours

Top five most expensive Portsmouth signings

5. David Nugent – £7.75 million

David Nugent is most remembered for his time with Portsmouth in the Premier League, despite this proving not to be his most prolific period in his career.

He joined them from Preston North End for a fee of £7.75 million in July 2007, with Portsmouth having to convince the striker to choose them over Sunderland, as both clubs had offers accepted that summer.

Nugent had made his England debut earlier that year, scoring against Andorra in Barcelona.

During his four years with Portsmouth, he failed to catch fire, as he only scored 20 goals across 93 appearances.

4. Jermain Defoe – £8 million

Jermain Defoe joined Portsmouth in January 2008 from Tottenham Hotspur, as he needed minutes to get back in the England reckoning ahead of Euro 2008, despite the country failing to qualify for the competition.

He would prove to be a brilliant piece of business, as he struck up a fantastic partnership with Peter Crouch under Harry Redknapp in his second season at the club.

Defoe spent a year at the club, as he left the following January to rejoin Spurs for a fee of £15.75 million.

During his time at the club, he scored 17 goals in 36 appearances, which demonstrated just how deadly he was while wearing the blue of Pompey.

3. John Utaka – £8.6 million

John Utaka joined Portsmouth on the same day as David Nugent, and he would go on to have a slightly better time at the club.

The Nigerian striker enjoyed his time on the south coast, remaining at the club until 2011 before leaving to join Montpellier as the financial issues started to become more apparent at Portsmouth.

Utaka would play a total of 90 matches for Portsmouth, scoring 10 goals, but he would be a key part of the FA Cup-winning side in 2008, as he provided the cross to Nwankwo Kanu for the winning goal in the final.

2. Sulley Muntari – £9 million

Sulley Muntari would join the club in the summer of 2007 for a £9 million fee from Udinese.

He was a regular throughout his first season at the club and was key in helping the club lift the FA Cup at the end of the campaign.

Muntari featured in 33 matches across the campaign, scoring five goals, and this would attract interest from other clubs in the top European leagues.

The Ghanaian would leave the club ahead of the 2008/09 season to join Inter Milan for a fee of £12 million, as the Italian giants were going through a midfield crisis.

1. Peter Crouch – £11.8 million

Peter Crouch would leave Liverpool in the summer of 2008, as the Merseyside club had a number of players. Rafa Benitez preferred to have Fernando Torres and Robbie Keane in his squad.

Harry Redknapp would spend the money to bring a striker he knew well from their time at Southampton together, spending £11.8 million on the England international ahead of their European campaign.

Crouch would only spend one season at Portsmouth, as he would join Tottenham Hotspur to be once again united with Redknapp.

However, in his one season he would score 16 goals in 49 matches, leaving for London in July 2009 for a fee of £10 million.