Four's the magic number: Why Portsmouth want so many goalkeepers

Deadline day marked the resolution of Pompey’s transfer saga of the summer - although it will have largely gone under the radar.

While the Fratton faithful had every reason to rejoice over Conor Chaplin’s emotional homecoming, the recruitment of Josef Bursik also represented a crucial piece in the jigsaw.

Four had long been the magic number in the eyes of John Mousinho and Joe Prodomo in terms of a goalkeeping department which they believed required another addition.

Indeed, free agents Stuart Moore and Alfie Whiteman had auditioned for the vacancy, the latter featuring in two pre-season friendlies, although to leave without deals.

It's a long-running hunt for another goalkeeper which may have looked a touch excessive considering Nicolas Schmid, Jordan Archer and Ben Killip were already at Fratton Park.

Yet the arrival of Bursik from Club Brugge for an undisclosed fee provides Pompey with a fourth body, viewed as the ideal number of keepers in respect of training ground work.

Certainly goalkeeping coach Prodomo has been vocal in his desire to have four stoppers to train and, with Toby Steward on loan at St Johnstone to aid his development, he now has his wish.

‘We do like it for the manager’s needs’

Speaking to The News in July, he explained his reasoning: ‘It’s what the benefits of adding a fourth one to the group are.

‘There's the obvious training need, which has become clear in the last two years. We do like it from the manager’s needs. For the type of sessions we try to create, four is a really good number to work with and gives you really good security.

‘If loan opportunities come up for goalkeepers or injuries happen, you are not suddenly at panic stations. While at our level when possible, we travel with three (to games) anyway.’

Back in July, The News revealed Pompey were targeting former England under-21 keeper Bursik, while Archer was attracting interest from League Two Salford.

Mousinho was open to letting the former Spurs man leave, should he crave regular football elsewhere - and that remained the head coach’s stance for the duration of the transfer window.

Archer’s departure was a possibility right up until Monday’s deadline, yet, ultimately, the 32-year-old stayed and Pompey signed Bursik anyway, after agreeing a two-year deal.

Bursik, who started his career at Stoke, had spent the last two-and-a-half years at Club Brugge without ever featuring in a competitive first-team fixture. Although he played six times for their reserve side, who compete as Club NXT in the Challenger Pro League, the second tier of Belgian football.

He spent last season on loan at Hibernian, where he started the Scottish Premiership campaign as first choice, only to lose his place towards the campaign’s halfway point.

The 25-year-old returned to Belgium at the season’s end following 17 appearances, although none after November 23, instead spending a further 25 matches on the bench.

Regardless, the Blues now boast a hugely experienced goalkeeping department and, crucially, four of them.

‘We play a lot of small-sided games’

Mousinho told The News in July: ‘We want to make sure we have strength in depth in the goalkeeping department, but it's a hard one because if you've got a number one, like we do with Nico, sometimes that can be hard to attract people to the football club.

‘We do speak about wanting to have four goalkeepers and a lot of the time that’s for training standards. We play a lot of small-sided games where we have two pitches going on at the same time, and, in order to do that to a high level, you need to have four goalkeepers.

‘We are trying to strengthen that department, that’s the reason we want to end up with four.’

And on Monday, Mousinho and Prodomo finally got their wish.

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