Andy Cullen makes Portsmouth transfer stance clear over Terry Devlin after reported £2m Wrexham bid
The Northern Ireland international has made 85 appearances and scored five goals during his time at Fratton Park
Andy Cullen has revealed Callum Lang wasn’t the only Pompey player to attract transfer interest in January.
Although he insists the Blues had no desire to sell another of their star performers, despite the chance to make ‘significant profits’.
The 22-year-old has been in outstanding form for John Mousinho’s men this season after cementing his place at right-back since early November.
Cullen declined to confirm whether the Northern Ireland international was the subject of a bid from the sixth-placed Red Dragons.
Although Pompey’s chief executive admitted that ‘younger players’ had attracted transfer interest in addition to long-running Preston target Lang.
‘It gives us some confidence the model is working’
Cullen told The News: ‘There was interest in players other than Callum. We could have made significant profits elsewhere on some of the younger players we’ve brought, but there wasn’t any interest from us in this window.
‘I don’t want to comment on particular players, but Terry continues to be a player that I know clubs are looking at from who comes to our matches.
‘We may have had offers for our players, but I wouldn’t want to name individuals and anything that we did receive - as we had no interest in doing business.
‘Again it reinforces that we have players who have come through our particular model which had interest in them, so it gives us some confidence that the model is working.
‘Let’s just say we had enquiries with an indicative offer made as to how much might be on the table - but there was no interest in selling from us.
‘We don't need to sell because we’re backed and supported. Ultimately, we know that if we can start to make significant profits, we have the ability to reinvest, which gives us confidence to do what we do.’
Preston’s club-record signing
Lang moved to Preston on deadline day in a deal worth around £2m, breaking the Lancashire club’s transfer record.
Cullen has previously explained how the deal represented ‘good business’ for the Blues and was also approved by Rich Hughes and Mousinho.
Pompey signed Lang for £400,000 in January 2024 from Wigan, with the League One side now entitled to a ‘significant six-figure sum’ due to a sell-on clause,
In the case of Devlin, the Irishman agreed a new three-and-a-half year deal in February 2025, keeping him at Fratton Park until 2028.
‘We could have cashed in’
Recruited from Glentoran in June 2023, he has totalled 85 appearances for the Blues and scored five goals, while is rapidly emerging as a Player of the Season candidate.
Cullen added: ‘In the transfer window, we had to try to bring players in to strengthen. We want to make sure that any player we let out has to be at the right price.
‘Obviously there was Callum, but with anything else that happened in this window, there was nothing else going out. If we were desperate for cash - which we weren’t - we could have cashed in and done something. But we didn’t.’