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Portsmouth’s assistant manager Tony Adams has admitted his concern that their young Croatian ace will suffer from a case of chronic heavy legs next season.
The 23-year-old midfielder was a key component of the club’s encouraging league performance and historic FA Cup triumph, but Adams is worried that the inevitable exertions of Croatia’s Euro 2008 campaign could end up working to the detriment of Pompey next season.

“Niko’s got the European Championships, which won’t be a good thing for Portsmouth,” said the ex Arsenal man.


“That’s on top of a long season and as a player you need a long break in the summer.

“We are going to have to look at him in pre-season and see what kind of schedule we can have him on. But we are a little concerned about him.

“Niko’s actually played more than any other Portsmouth player this season. He’s played regularly in the league and the cups and then gone on international duty for another 12 games on top.

“Someone like Sylvain Distin has missed two games all season, but we’ve been giving him days off in the international weeks. Niko hasn’t had that.

“I think you could tell that at the end of last season Niko had gone a little bit. It might have been fatigue, it might been a few things, but he looked tired.”

At least Kranjcar has been keen to underline his devotion to Portsmouth, despite being consistently linked with the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool.

Derek Wanner, Goal.com

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