Portsmouth boss’ revealing verdict on missing out on Manchester City starlet as Cardiff City land title hero
John Mousinho is comfortable Pompey did all they reasonably could to land Alex Robertson.
And the Blues boss admitted some of the figures surrounding the Manchester City starlet’s switch to Cardiff City, are unlike anything he’s encountered in his young management career.
The chase for the mercurial Aussie midfielder came to a close yesterday, as Robertson’s switch to the Bluebirds was confirmed.
That news was a blow for Pompey, who’ve made no secret of their desire to bring the League One title winner back to Fratton Park after shining so brightly last term.
Andre Dozzell has strengthened options in the middle of the park after leaving QPR, with Matt Ritchie’s homecoming lifting spirits.
But Cardiff have handed Robertson a four-year deal reportedly for an initial £1m rising to £3m, to put the transfer saga to bed.
When it comes to Pompey’s efforts to bring in the Socceroo, Mousinho stated the figures involved broke new ground since his move into management.
And the head coach was content the Blues did all they could be expected to land Robertson.
Mousinho said: ‘There’s loads of reasons (why a player joins a club), there’s always a variety of reasons.
‘The only thing I’d say about Alex, in terms of where we are as a football club and what we could do, is we did everything we could.
‘We pushed it as far as we could push it, so I’m sitting here now completely satisfied with everything we’ve done on the club side to do it - and we had the full backing of the owners to do that.
‘It’s territory I’ve never experienced in my time as a head coach, certainly some of the figures and numbers we’re talking about.
‘That’s something which is an obvious and natural thing to happen when you go into the Championship, but I’m really happy with everything we’ve done there and I have no complaints about that.
‘Players will choose other clubs and that’s just part of life - it’s something you have to live with.’