Portsmouth's league rivals Sheffield Wednesday and Watford identify targets amid Hull City update

Pompey are preparing for life back in the Championship following their promotion from League One. They went up from the third tier along with Derby County and Oxford United.

The transfer window is now open for John Mousinho to bring in some new faces to bolster his ranks ahead of the 2024/25 campaign. With that in mind, here is a look at some of the latest news and rumours from across the division...

Sheffield Wednesday target striker

Sheffield Wednesday are interested in a move for Las Palmas striker Sory Kaba, according to reporter Darren Witcoop on X. The Yorkshire outfit have identified the attacker as a potential alternative option to Troyes’ Ike Ugbo, who had a loan spell with them in the last campaign.

Kaba, 28, is a Guinea international with 21 caps under his belt so far in his career. He had a spell at Cardiff City last year and scored eight goals in 17 games in all competitions.

Watford have looked at defender

Watford have looked into a deal for Sint-Truidense defender Matte Smets over recent times along with Stade de Reims. However, as per a report by Get Football News, he is poised to join Genk this summer.

The 20-year-old played every minute for his current team last term and is being tipped for a bright future in the game. The Hornets will have to look elsewhere for reinforcements in his position though over the next couple of months with it looking like he is staying in Belgium.

Tom Cleverley is gearing up for his first full season in charge. The ex-Manchester United man was named as interim manager after Valerien Ismael’s sacking earlier this year and did a steady job.

Hull City could raid Hamburg

New Hull City boss Tim Walter hasn’t ruled out the possibility of raiding his former club Hamburg for new signings. The 48-year-old German has been picked as the Tigers’ replacement for Liam Rosenior.

They finished 7th in the Championship table and were three points short of the play-offs.

Walter, who has worked at Bayern Munich, Holstein Kiel and Stuttgart in the past, parted ways with Hamburg in February and is now back in the dugout.

He guided the Bundesliga.2 giants to the play-offs twice during his time at the Volksparkstadion but they weren’t able to get over the line on both occasions, losing to his ex-employers Stuttgart and then Hertha Berlin.

When asked whether he could move in for some of his old players, he said, as per a report by HullLive: "All over the world there are good players so we have to keep our eyes open and that's the only thing we can do. We will find the right players, it doesn't matter where they come from."

Hull have a few vacancies to fill in their ranks, especially in attack. Loanees like Liam Delap and Noah Ohio have gone back, whilst Billy Sharp and Aaron Connolly were released.

Meanwhile, former Pompey goalkeeper Ryan Allsop has been sold to Birmingham City.