'Absolutely realistic': Portsmouth chief adamant no cash concerns over signing winger permanently
The Santos winger has made five appearances for the Blues since his deadline day arrival
Rich Hughes is adamant Pompey can afford to make Gustavo Caballero’s Fratton Park stay permanent.
And he believes the agreement in place with the Paraguayan winger’s parent club Santos represents ‘good business’.
Caballero has swiftly made a favourable impact at Fratton Park after arriving on loan for the remainder of the Championship season.
As part of the arrangement, the Blues possess an exclusive option on the 24-year-old, involving a fixed transfer fee. Although there is no obligation to buy.
It means, should Caballero sufficiently impress during his loan, Pompey hold all the cards in keeping him on the south coast beyond the summer.
‘I think it’s good business’
And, according to Hughes, the pre-determined transfer fee is ‘absolutely realistic’ in terms of their finances and spending power.
The sporting director told The News: ‘Gustavo is one of those players that is probably starting to fade out of the game. He’s a natural right-footed winger who wants to play on the right-hand side, he’s pacy, direct, he has good ability, with loads of bits to improve on, loads of bits to help him adapt to.
‘It's an exciting signing, but we haven’t brought Gustavo in because he’s exciting, we’ve brought him in because we think he can help the group and can offer something different to what else we have available.
‘I think it’s good business to be in a position that, if he does well, we have the opportunity to take him on a permanent deal. That was a big part of the conversation.
‘We are in a good spot with him. If he does well, we have that protection to be able to bring him into the football club, which is a nice situation to be in.
‘Hopefully if we are in that conversation in the summer where we’re talking about triggering the option, it probably shows he has done really well and we have been quite successful over the back end of the season. So it's a good position for the football club to be in.
‘The (agreed) fee is absolutely realistic, we wouldn’t have put it in there if it wasn’t.
‘It was negotiated as part of the loan deal that, if things went well and everyone felt it was the right thing to do, then we’ve got that opportunity to exercise the option. So we are pleased with it.’
Five Pompey appearances
Caballero has scored once in five Pompey appearances to date, while came off the bench in last weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Hull.
Although his English career is still very much in its infancy, there have already been encouraging glimpses of his attacking talents on the right wing, injecting welcome pace, energy and directness into the team.
The deadline day move for Caballero was overseen by Pompey secretary Ali Knell, with the deal officially announced once the transfer window had closed.
‘The move was difficult’
And Hughes has heaped praise on Knell for his role in circumnavigating the ‘red tape’ to complete the eye-catching capture from Brazil's Serie A.
He added: ‘The move was difficult based on timescale and logistics - for want of a better phrase, red tape.
‘There was a lot to be done, there were overlapping windows, so kudos to Ali, he worked incredibly hard over the final three days of the window to get that one done and get it over the line.
‘He deserves a lot of credit for that because it was a different type of deal to stuff we have done before. He deserves a lot of credit for getting that over the line and ensuring Gustavo has been available since Preston.’