Exclusive:Portsmouth chief Andy Cullen delivers encouraging transfer update to boost Fratton faithful

Andy Cullen reflected on Pompey’s transfer business this summer and promised: We haven’t finished by any stretch of the imagination.

The Blues have so far captured Odin Bailey, Eoin Kenny, Rocco Shein, Daniel Bielica, Marko Milovanovic and Luke Brooke-Smith during the window.

Their chief executive has been encouraged by the arrival of such targets, with Shein and Milovanovic reflecting a welcome upgrade in transfer spending under the Eisner family.

However, following last weekend’s goalless draw at Darmstadt, John Mousinho revealed to The News he is targeting another six new faces before the September 1 deadline.

And Cullen has reassured the Fratton faithful that ‘work is still ongoing’ to recruit the required calibre of players to bolster Mousinho’s Championship team.

‘There is a lot of work still ongoing’

He told The News: ‘I am not going to talk about (spending) sums because, if I do that, you start to reveal your hand in terms of current deals going on.

‘But there is a lot of work still ongoing and we are close on some, while we’ve got a bit of work to do on others.

‘We still want to bring a number of players into those positions where we feel we need to strengthen and which John has identified. We haven’t finished by any stretch of the imagination, we will continue to invest in those right opportunities.

‘We are in a position where we have landed some of the targets we set out to get. Some of them we’ve had to exercise a degree of patience to get there, some took a bit longer.

‘We’ve also still got some who we've been working on all summer which have still yet to come to fruition - but we hope we’ll get those too.

‘We are also mindful of the fact that we can only register 25 players after the transfer window is complete, plus those we want to bring in as well.

‘Anybody under the age of 21 is exempt - unless they are a loan player - and we have a number of players who have transitioned from last season into that over-21 bracket as well, so we are mindful of that.

‘So there will be some movement in and there will be some movement out.’

Three loan departures for Pompey

In terms of departures, Jordan Williams (Blackpool), Makenzie Kirk (Barnsley) and Toby Steward (St Johnstone) have been loaned out this summer.

Kirk has already made a favourable impact with the Tykes, claiming a goal and an assist during Saturday’s 3-0 friendly success over Lincoln.

With newcomer Marko Milovanovic bolstering a centre-forward pool which also includes Colby Bishop and fit-again Thomas Waddingham, the Blues decided a season-long loan for Kirk would be beneficial.

Another seeking regular first-team has been Williams, whose season-long loan will take him up to the end of his Pompey contract, which expires next summer.

However, there is a recall option which can be activated in January at the season’s halfway mark, should Mousinho opt to recall the versatile full-back from the League One club.

Finally, Steward has returned on loan to St Johnstone, where he won the Scottish Championship title last season, earning rave reviews for his displays.

Instant impact with Barnsley

Cullen added: ‘Makenzie has already started to make an impact in pre-season at Barnsley.

‘We very much see him as one who will gain in terms of going out and playing first-team team football this season at Barnsley, which is why they have made a significant investment in him too.

‘It works for everybody and we are delighted he has already been able to make an impact, albeit in pre-season. Nevertheless, that’s really important, and we wish him well, as we do Toby and Jordan.’

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