Portsmouth boss reveals extent of summer transfer activity
The summer transfer window opens on June 15, with John Mousinho giving an insight into how the volume of Pompey business he anticipates.
John Mousinho has revealed he’s expecting ‘a lot’ of transfer activity with a busy summer of player trading ahead.
The Pompey boss has indicated there is set to be a move away from the short-term strategy employed in the January window to keep his side in the Championship.
Mousinho on volume of summer transfer activity: ‘It feels like a lot’
Mousinho has indicated talks are set to take place this week which will afford him clarity on the club’s playing budget, with ‘significant figures’ needing to be spent to bring in established Championship operators.
And, in terms of numbers, that means a lot of players coming through the door at Fratton Park.
When asked how much business he expects in the summer window, Mousinho said: ‘I don’t know yet, but it feels like a lot.
‘That’s absolutely fine because I keep going back to the fact we weren’t necessarily looking to build in January and we were really open about that.
‘That was the strategy. The strategy in January was what are going to spend our money on to keep us in the league?
‘We did sign Madiodio (Dia) on deadline day, he was one who is definitely one for the future.
‘But apart from that we did loans and lads like Ebou (Adams) and Keshi (Anderson), who are lads both over the age of 30 and not necessarily like the players we’ve brought in on permanents previously
‘When you look back at those bits of business when the dust settles and even now, I would make the same decision 100 times out of 100 because they were pivotal in keeping us in the Championship.’
Mousinho on January window: ‘Wanted players who were ready to play’
Mousinho explained Pompey’s short-term view in January was a necessity which arose from the crippling injury list which was affecting the club at the time.
He added: ‘We needed to do it. We’d lost Kos (Kosznovszky) in the last game of December to that ACL injury.
‘We were thin on the ground in the middle of the park anyway, then we had the run of successive injuries in January.
‘Murph (Murphy) was already out and Minhyeok (Yang went back to Tottenham and on to Coventry.
‘We lost Harvey (Blair) and Franco (Umeh) in the same game and we were facing a situation where we just didn’t have any wingers going into the Sheffield Wednesday game.
‘We’d lost Murph long term and Florian Bianchini was out too, so we were completely decimated in that department.
‘We had to go short term, so took Milli Alli and Kesh (Anderson)i who were Championship-ready players who could come and play.
‘We had to go short term and not go for players who we’re trying to develop over five or six years.
‘It was a necessity. We did it with Milli (Alli) and Keshi, we did it in the middle of the park with Ebou and the loans we brought in as well.
‘The one player who didn’t fit that was Madiodio (Dia), but, apart from that, everything else was short term.’