'Absolutely no chance': Portsmouth boss refuses to allow Fratton Park departures amid Jacob Farrell links
The January transfer window shuts on Monday, February 2
John Mousinho is adamant no player will be allowed to leave Pompey before the south-coast derby - including Jacob Farrell.
The fit-again left-back reportedly saw a loan switch to former club Central Coast Mariners collapse earlier this week, yet there remains interest in finding him regular football away from Fratton Park.
However, Mousinho insists the injury-ravaged Blues aren’t in any position to grant departures at this stage of the January transfer window.
Although there has been the addition of Millenic Alli on loan from Luton, the head coach presently has nine players sidelined by injury, including the likes of Josh Murphy and Callum Lang.
And while Pompey remain keen to offload players this month, it simply isn’t realistic until after the Southampton clash (Janaury 25).
‘Not something we are actively seeking’
Mousinho told The News: ‘There will be no departures at the moment.
‘In terms of numbers to go to Sheffield Wednesday, we haven’t got enough fit players at the minute to look at any departures, so it’s not something we are actively seeking.
‘We’ll see how it is towards the back end of the window, but nothing in the short-term, we have three games next week and we need the squad to be able to deal with it.
‘With Jacob, there is absolutely no chance before the weekend we are looking to loan any players out.’
In the case of Farrell, recent developments in the left-back position prompted Mousinho to declare last week it was ‘not a priority’ to strengthen there in the transfer window.
The Australian has been an unused substitute in the Blues’ last two squads, while Connor Ogilvie made a surprise return to action against Arsenal, featuring in the final 28 minutes after more than two months sidelined by a knee injury.
With Zak Swanson also impressing having been handed a consistent run in an unfamiliar role, suddenly Mousinho finds himself with options.
However, it makes sense to loan out Farrell for first-team opportunities, having made just two appearances in 18 months since arriving in England, while also creating space in the Blues’ 25-man Football League squad.
‘It has changed really quickly’
Mousinho added: ‘Left-back is one of those things which has changed really quickly, with Connor coming back a little ahead of schedule.
‘Jacob had that unknown return date, but he has now been training consistently for 4-5 weeks. Although he has dipped out a couple of times to make sure he manages that groin issue.
‘With Zak doing as well as he has done there, with Jordan (Williams) doing as well as he has done there, there are quite a few options now at left-back.
‘Zak has played enough games there, so I don’t see why he shouldn’t be considered as an option for the rest of the season. He shows a lot of energy there.
‘It’s a different way of playing in terms of coming back onto his right foot, but I don’t think you look at it and see he’s playing out of position. He plays a bit narrower than maybe you’d imagine a normal full-back to play on that side, so maybe getting a winger on the outside of him in that narrow position has caused sides a lot of issues.
‘Zak has mostly played at right-back, so for him to then go to left-back has been really impressive.’