Portsmouth boss addresses January transfer plans as he targets bolstering Blues play-off bid
The Blues recruited seven players in the January 2026 transfer window, including Ebou Adams and Madiodio Dia
John Mousinho has addressed his January transfer plans as he strives to build on Pompey’s encouraging Championship progress.
The Blues are positioned 11th, just two points adrift of the extended play-off spots, as they head to Burnley on Saturday off the back of one defeat in eight matches.
Pompey’s impressive recent upturn in form has not persuaded the head coach to re-evaluate his approach to the next transfer window.
And with transfer plans set to ramp up ‘over the next 2-3 weeks’, Mousinho has long been plotting the positions in need of essential strengthening.
‘We’ll start having those conversations a little more earnest’
He told The News: ‘We’re identifying positions we think we need to fill - and we started doing that the second the window closed in the summer.
‘We are not advanced in situations and programmes, things can change, but we have started to plan for January. Probably over the next 2-3 weeks - by mid-November - we’ll start having those conversations a little more earnest and maybe reaching out to clubs, players agents and seeing what things look like from that perspective.
‘We want to be in a situation where we’re not taking on 9-12 players, like we have done previously in some windows - and that’s going to be the aim in January.
‘Regardless of where we are in the league, regardless of what we’re going to do, we want to strengthen and we still think we can strengthen the squad. We’re going to try to do that.
‘I won’t say how many players, I will tell you on February 2! In the first Championship season, we brought in nine in January altogether, including Alexander Milosevic, who came slightly later.
‘That was a response to the struggles we’ve had in the summer windows, with limited budgets and injuries we’ve picked up. We are always going to be reactive to what injuries we pick up.
‘At the minute, we are hopeful the injured lads are going to be back by January. If we pick up any in the meantime, we will have to fill those spots.’
Seven signings in January 2026
Last January, Pompey recruited seven players to boost their latest battle to remain in the Championship.
Loan pair Millenic Alli and Gustavo Caballero had their moments and contributed to a number of key victories, while Ebou Adams’ £500,000 arrival from Derby provided excellent business.
The impacts of Keshi Anderson and Aji Alese were hit by injury, while Madiodio Dia and loanee Jacob Brown arrived on transfer deadline day.
Ultimately, the Blues stayed up with two matches to spare, with Adams and Dia presently integral members of a team now gunning for a top-10 finish.
Mousinho added: ‘If you go back to my assessment post-Southampton, my take wasn’t we have this poor squad which is really struggling. My assessment was we aren’t too far away, we need to keep doing a lot of the same things.
‘Obviously we must improve in certain areas, but I didn’t feel after Southampton there was anything to panic about. So my thoughts on recruitment haven't changed.
‘I’m pleased with the way we have performed, I am pleased with the fact we’ve picked up results. In terms of my overall opinion of things, however, I would have the same assessment of our squad, the same assessment of where we need to strengthen, what we need to do better.
‘We’ve picked up results and done well, which is great, but we still have to be very, very aware of the challenge which lies ahead.’
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