Ex-Birmingham, Crystal Palace and Bolton man on Portsmouth boss' radar after 'surprise' Championship exit
The winger made 92 appearances and scored 10 goals during his time at St Andrew’s
Keshi Anderson is on Pompey’s radar following his ‘surprise’ release from Birmingham, according to John Mousinho.
The head coach plans to sit down with the Blues’ recruitment team later this week to assess the free agent market, particularly players recently made available.
That will include Anderson, who last week left St Andrew’s by mutual consent after featuring 19 times in the Championship this season and scoring against Pompey in November.
The 30-year-old winger was a pivotal player in Birmingham’s League One title-winning season, while has also seen service with Crystal Palace, Doncaster, Bolton, Northampton, Swindon and Blackpool.
And his sudden availability has come to Mousinho’s attention.
‘I definitely wasn’t expecting that’
The Blues’ head coach told The News: ‘I guess there’s a couple of different free agent markets. One is where players have been out of contract for a while.
‘And then there are some players who may be available on frees in the next couple of weeks because of circumstances, yet have been with the football club and have played a lot of games. They've had a bit more time on the pitch.
‘The free agent market isn't something we've been looking at - it’s not something I have been looking at - but that will change in the next couple of weeks.
‘Those who have been with football clubs are closer to fitness, it’s a lot more difficult for the ones that haven't been with a football club since July and August.
‘Keshi Anderson is one which has only popped up recently, so hadn't been on the radar. One of the conversations we’re going to have this week is to look at free transfers which have popped up and probably surprised us a bit.
‘I didn’t think there would be many coming out of the Championship and we’ll look to see where that leaves everyone.
‘Anderson is a bit of a rare one this early in the window. Birmingham have done that with a couple of players. I definitely wasn’t expecting that, so that’s brand new information.’
Previous mid-season free transfer signings
Pompey have delved into the free agent market mid-season on several occasions during Mousinho’s three years at the helm.
Former Arsenal and Barnsley winger Josh Martin was signed on a short-term deal in November 2023 after training with the Blues, going on to make nine appearances in their title-winning season.
Another free agent recruited in that memorable campaign was Lee Evans in March 2024, following his release by Ipswich, and he went on to feature four times.
While last season, amid a centre-half injury crisis, they snapped up former Swedish international Alexander Milosevic, although he collected a calf injury in training to prevent him ever playing for Pompey.
Mousinho added: ‘With players who have been out of contract since the summer, I think it takes too long for them to get up to scratch. Although I don’t think it’s the end of the world to do it, certainly there are circumstances where we would do it.
‘Two good examples. We did it with Lee Evans when we brought him in in the League One title-winning season, but he’d been contracted with Ipswich until the back end of January when released.
‘We also did it with Alex (Milosevic) last year, but the Swedish season had finished, so he was a free agent from November onwards.’