Pompey duo on the move

Portsmouth boss Michael Appleton has confirmed Jason Pearce and Greg Halford have already agreed deals to leave the club this summer.

The south coast club were relegated from the Championship following their 2-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest yesterday, a match in which Pearce and Halford did not feature. Pearce, who joined Pompey from Bournemouth at the start of the season, is expected to join Neil Warnock's Leeds United while Halford, 27, is attracting the interest of several Championship clubs. Appleton is expecting a mass exodus at Fratton Park this summer and has admitted it could be a long summer. He said: "I would be very surprised if there are more than one or two players still here at the club next season. "It could be as big as 17 or 18 players leaving the football club and the same number coming in. It's going to be a tough, tough, summer with a lot of hard work. "There are agreements in place with various clubs over Greg and Jason that they wouldn't play the game, which we had to abide to, because we need to recoup the money for their services."