Portsmouth and Mark Kosznovszky update after Blues and Swansea linked with transfer interest

Reported target Mark Kosznovszky is not on Pompey’s wishlist.

The Hungarian midfield has been repeatedly linked with a Fratton Park switch, with Football Insider this weekend claiming a 600,000 Euro bid has been lodged by the Blues.

According to Pete O’Rourke, Swansea are also pursuing the MTK Budapest midfielder ‘after impressing for club and country in the last 12 months’.

However, The News understands the transfer talk is wide of the mark, with Pompey not seeking to sign Kosznovszky.

John Mousinho is eager to recruit two new central midfielders for next season, with just Marlon Pack and Andre Dozzell at his disposal.

The Blues have been left light in that area after Freddie Potts and Isaac Hayden returned to their parent clubs at the end of last season following successful loans.

Ongoing interest in Pelle Mattsson

There continues to be interest in highly-regarded Danish midfielder Pelle Mattsson, who is also being chased by Norwich as the battle for his signature hots up.

To date, Adrian Segecic has been their only signing this summer, yet the 21-year-old Australian is regarded as a number 10 option, while potentially can also operate wide on the right.

While left winger Harry Clout has signed professional terms after graduating from the Academy, having made one first-team appearance last term.

Portsmouth want ‘five or six’ more signings

According to Mousinho, he wants ‘five or six’ more players during the current transfer window, which is a marked reduction from previous pre-seasons,

Certainly the Fratton Park hierarchy are well aware of the necessity to strengthen the centre of midfield, with the Championship season now just four weeks away, when they face Oxford United in the opener.

Reuben Swann and Terry Devlin are other central midfield options, although Mousinho prefers Devlin as a right-back at this stage of his Pompey career.

While Swann was never even a regular starter at Southern League Premier South club Hawks during a loan spell last season, instead spending most of his time appearing off the bench.

Talking about his midfield options previously, Mousinho had told The News: ‘If you look at the squad there’s the front-liners Marlon (Pack) and Doz (Dozzell), while Abdou (Kamara) didn’t play that many games.

‘In terms of people competing for starting spots there, that’s definitely a department we need to strengthen.’

Portsmouth set to cash in on defender

Meanwhile, Ryley Towler is in the process of completing a move to Lincoln, ending his two-and-a-half year stay on the south coast.

The Blues will make a profit on the 23-year-old, who joined in January 2023 from Bristol City, shortly before Mousinho’s appointment as head coach.

He has gone on to make 45 appearances, scoring four times, yet has found first-team appearances hard to come by over the last two seasons

Pompey are also finalising Toby Steward’s loan move to Scottish Championship club St Johnstone, representing more first-team matches for the highly-rated goalkeeper to develop.

As a consequence, he isn’t attending the pre-season training camp in Slovakia, which runs until Friday.

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