Portsmouth boss' squad size admission as Blues seek to drive Fratton Park departures

However, with just 23 professionals available for Sunderland’s visit on Saturday, the head coach insists he’s in no hurry to prune his 33-man squad.

Ben Stevenson and Anthony Scully are among the players Pompey are keen to offload, while Gavin Whyte’s south-coast future continues to look bleak.

The Blues are running out of time to move on those surplus to requirements, with the window shutting at 11pm on Friday.

Yet Pompey are hopeful there may be some departures after so far adding 14 new faces to the squad over the summer.

Mousinho told The News: ‘We are open minded in terms of departures, the deal has to be right for the player, the deal has to be right for the club.

‘Now we have a couple more players in the building, we are probably a bit more open to possibly letting players go if the deal is right.

‘But, for the time being, it has been one of those where we travelled to Middlesbrough with 20 players, 19 pros plus Harry Clout, so we're not been able to look at any of that at the moment.

‘Letting players leave is not a department I have dealt with at all because I’ve needed the players for match-day squads. I’ve left it to Rich and the recruitment team to short out.

‘If the right offer comes in and the player thinks it’s the right thing to do, then if we are happy then it will happen.’

Mousinho doesn’t expect those absent from the trip to Middlesbrough to return for the Sunderland clash.

However, he can now add newcomers Freddie Potts and Mark O’Mahony to the squad after arriving on loan from West Ham and Brighton respectively this week.

Mousinho added: ‘Is the squad too big? The easiest way to answer that question is to disregard the total number of the squad - simply because of the amount we have available at present.

‘There’s always going to be players that are injured, suspended, players out on loan, and we would like to have more available, but we need to find 20 fit players at the weekend at the moment and can’t quite find that from a pro squad at the minute.

‘A 33-man squad does feel like a big number, but, at the minute, that’s just about covering where we are. When we have injuries back that might change.

‘But we spoke so many times last year about when we would get those injuries back, then somebody else got injured or there was another long-term injury.

‘There were almost two extremes. We either had Saturday morning sessions where we’ve left six out of the squad or we’re selecting from 18.

‘That’s why having good numbers in the squad is worth it, you don’t want to leave yourself too exposed.’