CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh and Trinidad and Tobago U-23 midfielder Lester Peltier has to wait until August for the final word on whether or not he would move to English Premiership club Portsmouth FC.
According to San Juan Jabloteh’s English coach Terry Fenwick the Work Permit Application appeal would take place sometime in the first week of August as no set date has been made possible yet due to the Premiership club’s pre-season.
Originally the 18 year old Peltier failed to obtain a permit in April with the Premiership team on his first attempt however Fenwick is confident that the work permit application would be a success this time.
He said, “Portsmouth are really interested in Peltier. The original date of the hearing was to take place in the first week of July, but Portsmouth’s Manager Harry Redknapp wants to be there personally so they changed the date to facilitate him.”
Also expected at the hearing would be Portsmouth’s Academy Director Paul Hart and Englishmen Steven Davies and Paul Mohamed of DMC Sports as Lester’s foreign agents.
Portsmouth showed keen interest in the Jabloteh youngster along with Khaleem Hyland and Ataullah Guerra also of the San Juan based club after the teenagers had spent three weeks on trial at the English club.
After extensive talks between the Pro League and Premiership clubs, Portsmouth offered contracts to both Lester Peltier and Ataulla Guerra, however the deal is not sealed as the players must be granted permits before any agreement can be signed which means that at the moment they are still attached to CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh.
But according to Fenwick only Peltier’s work permit approval would be on the agenda in the appeal in August.
“We would first push for Peltier and see how that goes. When Peltier’s permit is cleared then we would deal with Ataulla. We don’t want to risk both players being denied at the same time,” explained Fenwick.
Prior to the 2007 Pro League season Peltier had spent five weeks in England creating waves having stints with Premiership Giants Arsenal, Cardiff City, Millwall FC and Portsmouth during February and March.
He later joined the Premiership club for three weeks in April along with Ataulla Guerra but returned to Trinidad after they were denied work permits.