Israel striker Ben Sahar's stop-start Premiership career took a turn for the worse following Portsmouth's Carling Cup exit against his parent club, Chelsea.

Sahar joined Portsmouth on a six-month loan in July but despite impressing in pre-season, he has failed to make an appearance and looks unlikely to get many first team chances.

The 19-year-old suffered a further blow when boss Harry Redknapp did not name him in the club's Uefa Cup squad last month as Chelsea did do not want him cup-tied.

The Stamford Bridge club want the option of using Sahar in their Champions League campaign, if and when he returns to them in January.

The player is now only eligible to play for Portsmouth in the league as top-flight teams do not join the FA Cup until January.

Sahar has the formidable task of competing against Peter Crouch, Jermaine Defoe, Kanu, John Utaka and David Nugent.

He scored the equaliser for Israel in the World Cup qualifying match against Switzerland last month but injured his knee in the following game against Moldova.

Last season, he was loaned to QPR and Sheffield Wednesday but with first team chances so limited at Chelsea, he is almost certainly regretting turning down the option of going on loan to Dutch first division outfit NEC Nijmegen.