Southampton’s starting XI cost more than £112m last weekend - Pompey’s around £1m. The club are finding ways to narrow the cap to their Championship rivals who spend big . John Mousinho talks how they’re doing that.

John Mousinho has detailed the cornerstones of Pompey’s recruitment success as they show clear signs of spanning the chasm to the Championship’s big spenders.

And the Blues boss promised the club’s football operation will continue to find ways to be ‘smart’ with their signings, as they look to innovate against the division’s heavy financial hitters.

Pompey show signs of closing gap to Birmingham, Ipswich, Wrexham & Co

The upwardly mobile start to the campaign from Mousinho’s men offers evidence Pompey are reeling in their rivals, with many operating with resources light years from the ones available at PO4.

The transfer budget has been raised by the Eisners this season, with that total pushed as Conor Chaplin arrived on deadline amid 11 summer signings. The reality, however, is that will still sit at the back of the Championship pack with the likes of Birmingham, Wrexham, Southampton, Leicester City and Ipswich Town joining the division.

Mousinho detailed signing players with an affinity with the club, the appeal of playing in front of the Pompey crowd and shrewd free transfer work as key facets in what is shaping into potentially shrewd business.

He said: ‘I think we have to be smart in terms of what we do as a football club.

‘It does help when there’s a natural pull for certain players like Conor Chaplin and John Swift.

‘I never have to sell the club to players when they come in. Murph (Josh Murphy) is an example of that. I know I played with Murph, but he played here at the back end of the League One season when Oxford came here. That was one of the best atmospheres I’ve ever been involved in in a tight game when we really needed the support to get us over the line.

‘The players who’ve played here want to play and make this their home, that’s quite a good selling point for us.

‘Then we need to be smart when picking up those frees and what we do with our fees as well, particularly the ones from Australia. I know people are really pleased with Segs’ (Segecic) involvement so far - we picked him up for compensation from Australia.

‘So we just need to be really smart about how we do that, how we do spend the money available and who we pick up.

‘That money is increased year on year and the longer we stay in the Championship we can keep building on that. We can then change the strategy slightly, but as it is at the minute I guess we need to be smart.’

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Southampton squad cost £116m compared to Pompey’s £3.8m

Last weekend’s south-coast derby is a clear example of how Pompey are bridging the cap to rivals, after a draw with the relegated top flight side on their patch in which the visitors impressed.

Southampton’s starting XI was assembled for fees which can reach a whopping £112m - in contrast Pompey’s cost somewhere in the region of £1m. Colby Bishop (£500,000), Nico Schmid (£350,000), Zak Swanson (nominal) and Adrian Segecic (training compensation) were the only Pompey players who cost a fee.

Taking into account the two sides’ benches took the Blues to around £3.8m in comparison to Southampton’s eye-watering £166m.

Mousinho added: ‘If you compare the two sides from last weekend, I’m not sure how much it cost for them to be put together, but if you look at us, we’ve paid for Nico, we’ve paid for Segs and Colby. ‘We haven’t paid for Connor, Murph, Doz, Swifty, Swanny (nominal), Regan, Shaughs and Connor Ogilvie

‘If you at the two sides last weekend we don’t have to list how much has been spent. We’ve mentioned the two midfielders and I think Azaz was north of £10m.

‘So we need, really need, to lean on that and lean on the fact that it is important to have good individuals - but it’s much more important to be good as a team and have a strong collective. We also think we can look at the players we have and we’ve picked up some players with decent value there, who are worth a couple of quid.’