Portsmouth boss addresses Colby Bishop's Fratton Park future after Sheffield Wednesday link
The popular striker has netted 60 goals in 175 appearances during his time on the south coast
John Mousinho is adamant Colby Bishop still has a ‘big future’ at Fratton Park.
And while Pompey are pursuing strengthening their strikeforce this summer, he wants the reported Sheffield Wednesday target to remain and battle for a starting spot.
According to the Sheffield Star, the 29-year-old is on the Owls’ transfer wishlist as they seek to bounce back from relegation to League One.
Regardless, Bishop was on the training pitch with Pompey this morning, with pre-season now underway after the players underwent testing at the end of last week.
The Blues are pushing to sign Almeria striker Marko Milovanovic to boost their firepower, with Bishop, Thomas Waddingham and Makenzie Kirk currently on their books.
Although Mousinho is looking for the former Accrington man to stay and challenge for a position which has desperately lacked competition in recent years.
‘No approach from the football club’
He told The News: ‘There is nothing in those (Sheffield Wednesday) reports as far as I am concerned, nothing has come to me. There has been no approach from the football club.
‘As far as I am concerned, Colby has a big future here, he has been a really important player for us and for me over the last three-and-a-half seasons.
‘By his own standards, I don’t think he has quite hit the heights last year, especially coming back from heart surgery and doing as well as he did in that first Championship season.
‘Colby is fully fit, he trained today, he’s looking sharp, he’s looking good, and we want to get him back firing to where he was 18 months ago.
‘Bringing in another striker would leave him with a bit of competition to be honest - and it's something we’ve maybe not been able to muster over the past couple of seasons.
‘We’ve always had players in and around who have played here and there, but nobody has ever properly given Colby a run for his money for that number nine position. It’s something we have spoken to him about in terms of our intentions to bring someone in.’
Pre-season training
Bishop, Kirk and Waddingham were among 18 first-team players who took part in this morning’s training session, overseen by Mousinho.
Meanwhile, a number of Blues players recovering from injury rehabbed outside, including Zak Swanson, Jacob Farrell, Ebou Adams and Josh Murphy.
And Pompey are pushing to add to their numbers - particularly with Milovanovic and Rocco Shein - before departing on Sunday for a week-long pre-season training camp.
Mousinho added: ‘At the minute, we’ve got Colby and Tom Waddingham as the centre-forwards in the building. Obviously Makenzie as well, but he’s probably more of that longer-term project for us at the moment.
‘To have that real competition is something we need. We’ve seen that when Colby has been injured or maybe had a drop in form, it’s not been a position we've particularly had a wealth of players in.
‘Maybe that’s because of injuries or maybe because of form, but we need to make sure we try to improve that competition.’