Latest: Portsmouth's transfer admission as they prepare to splash the cash
Pompey are ready to splash the cash in the transfer window.
That’s the message from Rich Hughes, who insists owners Tornante have given the great light to buy players to bolster their Championship return.
Of the five new arrivals so far, just Reuben Swann has involved a fee, albeit a small one, having joined from non-leaguers AFC Sudbury.
Yet with the free agent market now largely empty, the Blues’ recruitment focus is primarily fixed on paying transfer fees to land targets.
And their sporting director believes a number of identified players are in the ‘pipeline’.
Hughes told The News: ‘It’s fair to say we will be buying players.
‘I would imagine we’ll bring in a couple of players for a transfer fee and the board have always been really forthcoming with that.
‘We’ve had a conversation with the board, they have given us a backing to spend money as and when the time’s right. We also have to protect that and to do the best deals we can for the future of the football club.
‘In my time here - and I have said this a lot of times - if there’s a logical case presented as to why we want to bring in a player, they have always been forthcoming to allow us to do that, as they showed last January with a few as well.
‘The owners are great and, between me, John (Mousinho), Brad (Wall), Andy (Cullen) and Tony (Brown), we speak regularly about recruitment. We are in constant conversation with the board.’
This summer Josh Murphy, Jordan Williams and Jordan Archer were free transfers, while Sammy Silvera is on a season-long loan from Middlesbrough.
Over the previous two transfer windows, Christian Saydee, Anthony Scully, Terry Devlin, Kusini Yengi, Callum Lang, Tom McIntyre and Owen Moxon have involved fees.
Hughes added: ‘They see the progression of things and it’s not just a conversation we open up a week before the window opens. We are consistently talking all year round.
‘They see how deals take place over a good few months and how there’s a lot of planning and background work which goes on before players come in.’