Why Portsmouth didn’t let Fulham signing leave Fratton Park at transfer window’s climax
The defender has faced injury issues with loan minutes a transfer deadline day option - here’s why he never left Fratton Park.
John Mousinho admitted finding regular football for Ibane Bowat was a consideration at the transfer window’s climax.
But the Blues felt keeping the Fulham signing at PO4 was the right move to make, as the centre-back builds his return from injury.
Why Pompey wanted to keep Fulham signing
And Mousinho explained having the collective defensive cover amid options at the back returning from their own issues, was a key consideration in deciding the pathway for the defender.
Bowat is building his way back from a serious knee injury, which wrote off his maiden campaign at Fratton Park before he’d played a competitive minute after signing in August of last year.
A tendon tear in the 22-year-old’s right knee was the catalyst for a gruelling and testing period of rehabilitation, which kept the Londoner out for 10 months.
Bowat has battled back from a ‘dark’ time in his young career, after the ‘freak’ injury taking an unopposed shot in training.
The former Den Bosch loanee built his fitness in pre-season, however, featuring in warm-up games before making his competitive bow in the Carabao Cup against Reading last month.
There’s been no further minutes for Bowat beyond that, being an unused sub in two matches and missing out of the squad for the win over Preston North End last weekend.
Bowat was an obvious consideration for a departure to get some match action away from Fratton Park on deadline day, especially with Pompey needing to carry out their business with the EFL’s 25-man squad rules in the Championship a consideration.
Bowat is not the only central defender who had fitness issues last term, with Conor Shaughnessy (calf), Hayden Matthews (ankle) and Regan Poole (knee) all sidelined for significant periods.
Pompey recruited Josh Knight from Hannover 96 to leave the department looking well covered, but Mousinho explained the cumulative question marks over the other options meant the football operation didn’t want to risk being exposed by letting Bowat leave.
He said: ‘Maybe (Ibane would need football), but we looked at the situation with the four centre-halves and we have Regan, Shaughs, Hayden and Ibane.
‘When we spoke about bringing another centre-half in, it was to make sure we had that real strength in depth in those positions.
‘Last season the four of them spent significant periods on the sidelines, so we thought having a fifth was the right thing to do.
‘Touch wood we’re in a really good spot with the centre-halves physically, but I didn’t think it was worth the risk to let someone out.’
Deadline passes for 25-man squad to be registered with the EFL
After a busy deadline day in which four new faces - Josef Bursik, Mackenzie Kirk, Franco Umeh and Conor Chaplin - were recruited, Pompey took their summer incomings to 11 for the window.
Adrian Segecic, John Swift, Luke Le Roux, Mark Kosznovszky, Florian Bianchini, Josh Knight and Minhyeok Yang were the other faces landed.
Tom McIntyre and Abdoulaye Kamara departed on deadline day, with Ryley Towler, Paddy Lane, Matt Ritchie and Christian Saydee all moving on this summer.
The deadline for the Blues to register their 25-man squad with the EFL passed last night at 7pm.