How Portsmouth will handle 25-man squad headache after boosted by late transfer window business

There was a flurry of activity during the final three hours on Monday’s deadline day, with two signings and four exits.

Crucially, those departures have created straight-forward decisions over the make up of the 25-man squad, which must be submitted to the Football League at 12 noon on Thursday.

Whereas Ben Stevenson and Tom Lowery were left out of the September squad submission, on this occasion no fit Pompey player will need to be omitted.

Indeed, the Blues potentially have one spot spare, should Jacob Farrell and Paddy Lane both not be registered due to season-ending injuries.

Monday evening saw the exits of Tom McIntyre (Charlton), Will Norris (free transfer) and Owen Moxon (Stockport), opening up three spots.

Earlier in the window, Elias Sorensen (Valerenga) and Sammy Silvera (Middlesbrough) also left, thereby creating a total of five slots.

Of course, Tom Lowery (Crewe), Ben Stevenson (free transfer) and Anthony Scully (Colchester) were never registered, so their exits makes no difference in terms of the 25-man squad.

On the flip side, sporting director Rich Hughes oversaw the recruitment of eight players over the duration of the January transfer window.

With newcomers Thomas Waddingham and Hayden Matthews born after January 1, 2003, they are classified as under-21 players, thereby are not required to be registered.

The Australian pair join Harvey Blair, Terry Devlin, Abdoulaye Kamara, Toby Steward and Reuben Swann in that category.

That leaves six fellow January signings to fit into five vacant slots - Rob Atkinson, Isaac Hayden, Cohen Bramall, Adil Aouchiche, Ben Killip and Kaide Gordon.

However, Pompey can comfortably create room for all by not registering one of Lane or Farrell, with neither expected to play again this season through injury.

Not registering either would actually leave one spare spot, which, in theory could be filled by a free agent, provided they have departed a club during a transfer window.

Meanwhile, Ibane Bowat remains out of contention as he recovers from the season-ending injury he sustained in September.

Here’s how Pompey’s 25-man Football League squad could potentially look when submitted by Thursday’s noon deadline.

Goalkeepers: Nicolas Schmid, Jordan Archer, Ben Killip

Defenders: Zak Swanson, Conor Shaughnessy, Cohen Bramall, Ryley Towler, Regan Poole, Jordan Williams, Connor Ogilvie, Rob Atkinson

Midfielders: Marlon Pack, Andre Dozzell, Isaac Hayden, Freddie Potts

Attackers: Adil Aouchiche, Matt Ritchie, Callum Lang, Josh Murphy, Kaide Gordon

Strikers: Colby Bishop, Kusini Yengi, Christian Saydee, Mark O’Mahony

Under-21s: Harvey Blair, Terry Devlin, Abdoulaye Kamara, Toby Steward, Reuben Swann, Thomas Waddingham, Hayden Matthews.

Injured (for the remainder of the season): Ibane Bowat, Paddy Lane, Jacob Farrell.