Portsmouth have shored up their attacking options with the signing of Frederic Piquionne on a season-long loan from the French Ligue 1 side Lyon. Pompey boss Paul Hart has moved to fill the void left by Peter Crouch's departure for Tottenham Hotspur, with the club also having an option to make Piquionne's move permanent should he perform well for the club. The one-time French cap has plied his trade in France throughout his career and joined OL last summer from Monaco for ?4.5 million (Dh23.7m), but struggled to make an impact under Les Gones' manager Claude Puel. Even with Karim Benzema departing for Real Madrid, Piquionne remains surplus to requirements at Stade Gerland and the 30-year-old former St Etienne striker will be looking to give his career a kick-start down on the English south coast. Pompey fans will welcome the arrival of Piquionne just by way of reversing a trend that has seen many of the club's better players leave through the exit door, with England internationals Crouch and Glenn Johnson leaving this summer and Jermain Defoe and Lassana Diarra departing in January. The Portsmouth board have warned the club may have to sell more players to stave off the threat of going into administration unless the protracted takeover of the Abu Dhabi businessman, Sulaiman al Fahim, is finalised soon. Meanwhile Portsmouth have taken action against striker David Nugent and defender Marc Wilson for a breach of club discipline on a pre-season tour to Portugal. The Premier League club said today the matter was being dealt with internally. "All we are saying is David Nugent and Marc Wilson have both been disciplined for a breach of club discipline while on the club's recent trip to Portugal," a spokesman said.
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