There was quite a bit of surprise this past week when Milton Keynes Dons confirmed the signing of one of the most sought-after youngsters in the Football League.
After supposed interest from the likes of Burnley, Brentford, Barnsley and Queens Park Rangers (via The Sun, 4 April, page 61), Swindon Town midfielder Scott Twine opted to switch to Russell Martin's MK Dons.
It comes after a sensational season for the 21-year-old for both the Robins and in the first half of the 2020-21 campaign on loan at Newport County, scoring 14 goals and bagging nine assists in 49 outings in all competitions for both sides.
Twine also became well-known for his long-range strikes which made up the majority of his goals last season and there's likely many more to come for the Dons next season.
Another club who were linked to Twine were Portsmouth, but of course he's now ended up at a team who could be perceived as a promotion rival to Pompey next season.
It appears that the interest was genuine as Danny Cowley has spoken out about their attempted pursuit of Twine - and why it didn't get as far as trying to persuade the attacking midfielder to Fratton Park.
"He plays in the left-half space, and we already have two players who play in that left-half space. He loves to come in off the left and shoot with his right foot. We have two players who do that already," Cowley explained, per The News.
"So we think a lot of Scott Twine, and he will be a really good signing for MK Dons who play 3-4-3 and like that inside 10.
"He can play as a left 10 for MK Dons and I can see him being a really good fit for them.
"I think, though, in our playing squad we already have two players in Michael Jacobs and Ronan Curtis who can play in the similar position."
The Verdict
When Cowley explains it, the decision not to pursue the signing of Twine makes a bit more sense - especially when several other areas of the squad need to be strengthened heavily.
There's no doubt that Twine would have been a fantastic addition for Pompey - but only if Ronan Curtis was to be sold and there's no guarantee that they'll cash in on the Irishman this summer amid a lot of Championship interest.
Considering Pompey have lost some key players like Jack Whatmough and Tom Naylor to League One rivals because they couldn't match the terms on offer elsewhere, they may have been outbid in terms of wages for Twine anyway if they went for him.
The worst case scenario though in the eyes of Pompey fans will be for Portsmouth to end up selling Curtis and Twine to fire MK Dons to promotion next season - of course that's just hypothetical but it could easily happen.
