Breaking: Portsmouth boss delivers Alex Robertson update as Blues battle Cardiff for Manchester City talent

The Blues are keen to bring the Australian midfielder back to Fratton Park - either permanently or on loan.

However, the indications are Cardiff are closing in on the talented 21-year-old, who has 12 months remaining on his Manchester City deal.

Pompey clearly remain light in the centre of midfield and, without skipper Marlon Park at Charlton, slumped to a 2-0 defeat in their final pre-season friendly.

Yet Mousinho insists they haven’t given up hope of landing Robertson following his impressive stay in their League One title-winning campaign.

The Blues’ head coach told The News: ‘The situation is exactly the same as it was last week, we are still very much interested in a deal for Alex - and I think we are still in for him.

‘I don’t know about Cardiff, I have no idea, I don’t know the Manchester City side either, they will know a lot more than I would. I just know the Pompey side of it.

‘And the Pompey side is we are still in for him. Who knows (whether it will happen), when you are talking about other sides and conjecture around that, we’re competing against other teams in the league.

‘Alex most likely has got quite a few options and that’s just something we are going to have to try to compete with as best as possible and then go from there.’

Pack was absent at the Valley after his wife gave birth to a son on Friday, with Owen Moxon instead partnering Tom Lowery in the centre of the park.

The Blues desperately need to strengthen that area of the pitch, with 18-year-old Reuben Swann the only central midfielder to arrive so far this summer.

Mousinho added: ‘We do have plenty of targets in plenty of different positions.

‘There’s no secret about what we think of Alex, we think he’s a fantastic player, we would love to bring him in if we possibly can, but that is out of our control.’