EXCLUSIVE: Contract Agreed as Pompey Address Keeper Conundrum
Bielica Pompey-Bound as Portsmouth Continue to Spend
Football Park exclusively understands that Portsmouth have officially agreed a deal to sign NAC Breda goalkeeper Daniel Bielica for €600,000, with the Polish shot-stopper set to be the South Coast side's fourth summer signing since the start of July.
After some fluctuating early negotiations, in which Portsmouth were turned away multiple times by the Dutch club, the Hampshire outfit eventually agreed a deal with NAC, and after a few days of discussion, with Bielica himself, whose deal will run until the summer of 2029 – now, all that stands in the way of the deal is a medical, set to take place on Monday.
🚨🚨 | EXCLUSIVE:
— Football Park (@thefootballpark) July 20, 2026
Portsmouth have AGREED a deal to sign NAC Breda goalkeeper Daniel Bielica for €600k, Football Park understands! 👀🔵
The 27-year-old has agreed a contract until 2029, with only a medical on Monday standing between him and the move. 🔥🧤 pic.twitter.com/7sxscz0mr2
NAC Breda reportedly rebuffed Portsmouth’s interest in Bielica at least twice, with the English outfit initially failing to meet their price tag of €800,000 more than once. Pompey even pulled the plug on the deal just four days ago but, on Thursday afternoon, the Dutch second-tier side re-initiated talks for a reduced price.
Keeper Crisis
It has been clear for a while now that Portsmouth would be forced to bolster the goalkeeping department this summer – youngster Toby Steward has been sent on a second successive loan deal to Scottish side St Johnstone while backup Josef Bursik is sidelined until at least August with a calf injury.
With Austrian goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid also failing to hit the heights he did during the 2024/25 season last campaign, keeping just seven clean sheets in 34 Championship games, manager John Mousinho has clearly felt that the time was right to bring in some new competition for the number one shirt, with Bielica boasting 187 senior appearances across spells in Poland and the Netherlands.
At 1.91 metres tall, Bielica certainly won’t be the tallest goalkeeper in the Championship, but the 27-year-old more than makes up for the marginal lack of height with his lightning-fast reflexes and an excellent understanding of his positioning between the posts.
With his reputation built on close-range reflex saves, a knack for being in the right place at the right time, and a more than competent ability to play out from the back, Bielica brings vital control and composure to a backline that has narrowly survived relegation for two consecutive years.
This shift towards a more controlled style of play indicates Mousinho’s desire to move them away from the scrappy, relegation battle-style football of recent years and towards a more dominant, controlling setup which could see the club take big leaps up the table.
Initially seeing two bids batted away, including one of around €500,000, Portsmouth looked like they would be forced to look elsewhere for goalkeeping depth, but with Bielica announcing his intention to leave NAC Breda earlier this summer, the south-coast side agreed a fee just days after walking away from negotiations.
Refusant tout offre pour Daniel Bielica (27 🇵🇱), NAC Breda aurait poussé Portsmouth 🏴 à explorer d'autres pistes pour le poste de gardien.
— 🇫🇷 Foot néerlandais 🇳🇱 (@Foot_NL) July 13, 2026
Face à cela, la Parel van het Zuiden par la voix de son directeur technique Peter Maas, se dit prêt à conclure la transaction pour un… https://t.co/JdvDePgYQA
With the reported fee for the Pole sitting at €600,000, the figure takes Portsmouth up to a total spend of around £3 million already this summer, with the £2.5 million purchase of Estonian midfielder Rocco Shein accompanied by the €40,000 arrival of Eoin Kenny, as well as the signing of free agent Odin Bailey.
For context, the south-coast side only spent £4.5 million across the entirety of the last summer transfer window, and with six weeks remaining until this year's slams shut, the boys in blue look certain to exceed that, indicating that they could have some lofty expectations for the coming campaign.
Ben Wright 