Latest: Portsmouth's 25-man Football League squad state of play now transfer window has closed

Once the debate was whether to leave title winners out of the 25-man squad, now the biggest conundrum is if to include all of Pompey’s goalkeepers.

The Blues are in the process of submitting their Football League squad - and, this time around, it really is incredibly straightforward.

Certainly sporting director Rich Hughes warrants credit for exceptional planning over the summer transfer window to prevent the waste of paying players who aren’t allowed to feature in matches.

Last September saw the Blues opt against registering Tom Lowery and Ben Stevenson, while Colby Bishop was in the process of recovering from a heart operation and also not initially listed.

That left Lowery and Stevenson in the unenviable position of continuing to train yet not allowed to feature for the Blues until January 2025. Inevitably, they never played for the club again.

This time around, however, there are no such issues, with enough space for all available players to be registered in this term’s 25-man squad.

The out-of-favour three consisting of Matt Ritchie, Tom McIntyre and Abdoulaye Kamara have finally moved on following a summer spent trying to offload them. Although Kamara was regarded as an under-21 player anyway.

Portsmouth’s eight under-21 players

That leaves Mousinho with a 33-man squad, of which eight are bracketed as under-21s. Of course, although not counted in the final 25, those eight can still feature.

Rules state that anyone born on or after January 1, 2004 is regarded as an under-21 player, with Terry Devlin and Harvey Blair now classed as too old, having fitted into that category last season.

Those who do qualify, though, are Makenzie Kirk, Franco Umeh, Reuben Swann, Thomas Waddingham, Hayden Matthews, Adrian Segecic, Toby Steward and Harry Clout.

Interestingly, Umeh was once mooted as a possible loan arrival from Crystal Palace. However, irrespective of the attacker being aged 20, loan players cannot be classed as under-21s.

By signing him for an undisclosed fee on deadline day, though, that removes such an issue and Umeh is considered an under-21 player.

As for Steward (St Johnstone) and Clout (Farnborough), they are presently away from Fratton Park on loan, but are under-21 players anyway, so don’t count towards the 25-man squad.

Whether Pompey fill all 25 spaces will very much depend on if they want to include all four goalkeepers, which does seem a tad excessive.

Josef Bursik’s deadline-day arrival sees him join Nicolas Schmid, Ben Killip and Jordan Archer as the options, with room to register all of them with the Football League, leaving everyone happy.

However, the question is whether that would be a waste of one space. Could that instead be kept free in case there’s a need to raid the free agent market?

Still, if that is the biggest dilemma facing Mousinho and Hughes, it really has been an impeccably organised transfer window.

Pompey’s Likely 25-man Football League squad.....

Goalkeepers: Nicolas Schmid, Ben Killip, Jordan Archer, Josef Bursik.

Defenders: Jordan Williams, Zak Swanson, Jacob Farrell, Connor Ogilvie, Regan Poole, Josh Knight, Conor Shaughnessy, Ibane Bowat.

Midfielders: Marlon Pack, Andre Dozzell, Terry Devlin, John Swift, Luke Le Roux, Mark Kosznovszky.

Attackers: Josh Murphy, Harvey Blair, Florian Bianchini, Callum Lang, Yang Minhyeok.

Strikers: Colby Bishop, Conor Chaplin.

Contracted under-21 players: Reuben Swann, Thomas Waddingham, Hayden Matthews, Adrian Segecic, Toby Steward, Harry Clout, Makenzie Kirk, Franco Umeh.

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