Portsmouth boss on why 'short-term' deal for Luton's Millenic Alli suits Blues - and eyeing more signings
Pompey have completed their first signing of the January transfer window
John Mousinho is convinced Millenic Alli’s short-term arrangement ‘will work well’ for Pompey.
Yet the head coach is adamant he still wants to add to his winger options during the January transfer window.
On Wednesday evening, the Blues unveiled the Luton attacker as their first signing of the window, with the 25-year-old going straight into their squad for the trip to Sheffield Wednesday.
The Hatters had captured Alli from Exeter for a reported £1.5m just 12 months ago, with the Irishman subsequently impressing in last season’s unsuccessful fight to remain in the Championship.
Now they have agreed to loan him to Pompey, whose wing options have been decimated following injury to Josh Murphy, Callum Lang, Florian Bianchini, Franco Umeh and Harvey Blair, while Minhyeok Yang was recalled by Spurs.
And Mousinho is excited over what Alli can bring to his injury-ravaged team.
‘We do want more wingers’
He told The News: ‘Millenic was one of those available to us on loan. We have a fair few wingers in the building, just not a huge amount fit at the minute, so I think the loan option in the short-term will work well for us.
‘We do want more wingers, though. It depends, there’s definitely a need for them.
‘He’s an explosive winger, right-footed, but plays on the left and comes on the inside quite a bit, while, when he plays on the right, he can go on the outside. An old-school right-footed right winger, which you don’t see too many of these days.
‘He has a really good eye for goal as well, I think that’s the reason Luton took him because of the goals he scored and the excitement he created at Exeter - and he did the same at the back end of last season.
‘Millenic is a player we have admired for a while, he was one of the bright sparks in the back end of tough season for Luton, scored a few goals, played quite a lot of games in the Championship and is a player who has come into the league and done very well.
‘It’s a position we have been looking to fill, so we’re delighted to have him in.’
Overall, he has one goal in 22 appearances this season, including 12 league starts for a Hatters side currently positioned seventh.
However, since Jack Wilshere replaced Matt Bloomfield as boss in October, Alli has started just four matches, while was withdrawn at half-time against Port Vale in December - his last start.
‘It’s a really positive early signing for us’
Mousinho added: ‘If he had been playing every week then maybe he wouldn’t have been available to us, so it’s one of those.
‘We looked at this record at the back end of last year, he played plenty of games pretty consistently, so I think it’s a really positive early signing for us.
‘He can play off either flank, he has played centrally a couple of times as well, but I think he’s versatile enough to play off the left or off the right - and he has done that quite a bit over the past year or so.’
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