Why Nicolas Schmid is under threat as Portsmouth transfer to spark goalkeeping overhaul
Nicolas Schmid has made 70 appearances since joining from BW Linz in August 2024
The paperwork has still to be completed, the deal has yet to be announced, but the intent is absolutely certain.
The Blues are braced for a goalkeeping overhaul - and Daniel Bielica will be at the heart of it.
The Polish stopper is incoming at Fratton Park, having spent the previous two seasons as a regular with NAC Breda in the Dutch top flight.
The transfer fee is for a reported £500,000, a significant outlay for a second, third or even fourth-choice keeper at any Championship club, let alone Pompey. Which makes this a particularly intriguing signing.
The Will Norris warning signs
In the past, John Mousinho and sporting director Rich Hughes have demonstrated their ruthlessness with goalkeepers, with League One title-winner Will Norris a case in point.
Certainly there’s the very real possibility that the impending signing of Bielica will actually primarily impact Nicolas Schmid, rather than back-up options off the bench.
Although, as a consequence, it would also leave the Blues with too many goalkeepers on their books and the necessity to remove one - which would bring Josef Bursik into the equation.
Undoubtedly, Schmid’s first-team spot is not as secure as 12 months ago. Having set the bar impressively high in his maiden 2024-25 campaign, last term represented a significant dip compared to previous standards.
Admittedly, his season was impacted by the broken right hand sustained at Southampton in September 2025, sidelining the Austrian for two months.
Bursik impressed while deputising in that absence, yet naturally made way when the number one returned. Except Schmid subsequently failed to recapture his best form, with goal-costing mistakes noticeably creeping into his game.
That decline has been noted at Fratton Park and, as Norris discovered to his cost, they have identified the need to recruit another frontline goalkeeper to ramp up competition for a team selection previously considered cast-iron.
The likelihood is Bielica, accompanied by his £500,000 price tag, has not been pursued merely to battle it out with Ben Killip and Bursik for a place on the bench or starting spots in cup competitions.
Ben Killip and Josef Bursik futures under scrutiny
Of course, once the Pole’s arrival is announced, it will also have substantial ramifications on the Fratton Park futures of Killip and Bursik, who are both out of contract in the summer of 2027.
None of the Blues’ four stoppers are categorised as under-21 players in terms of registering their Football League 25-man squad. Toby Steward is, however, yet has returned to St Johnstone on loan.
Pompey will register three of them, certainly Schmid and Bielica, meaning one of Killip or Bursik is to miss out. Considering the latter is sidelined with a quad injury, he remains the most likely.
Indeed, last week after the 2-1 victory at Woking, Mousinho told The News he expected Bursik to be out until the ‘back end of August’, despite being partially involved in training at present.
The injury has sidelined the former Club Brugge man since April, when he tore his quad while taking a goal kick against Stoke, just four minutes into the Championship fixture.
Two triallist keepers
Bursik’s ongoing absence - plus summer departures for Jordan Archer and Academy pair Oscar Glover and Conal McDermott - have left them short in pre-season, with two triallists taken on their pre-season training camp in Fota Island.
Bielica’s impending arrival would boost numbers once more, giving Mousinho three goalkeepers for training. Bursik, when fit, could well serve as a fourth.
However, retaining a 26-year-old former England youth international who hasn’t been registered and cannot actually play for Pompey until January may not actually be what Bursik himself is looking for.
We wait to discover the outcome, in terms of selection, departures and work permits. But what is certain is there’s a Blues goalkeeping overhaul ahead.