'Still working hard to do that’: Portsmouth hunt for Matt Ritchie’s replacement is on with Newcastle United favourite set for Reading

John Mousinho acknowledged Pompey have still to replace Matt Ritchie as the transfer window reaches a crescendo.

And the hunt remains on to replace the quality the Blues will lose, as the Gosport lad departs for Reading.

Mousinho on replacing Ritchie: ‘Still working hard to do that.’

Ritchie is set to sign for the League One side and bring his Fratton homecoming to a close, as revealed by The News earlier this month.

And Mousinho knows a priority is to add a new threat out wide of the level and profile required to take Pompey forward this season.

When asked if the challenge is for a new winger to improve on Ritchie, Mousinho said: ‘Absolutely, we want to try to improve everywhere.

‘We want to try to do that summer on summer and when we have players who performed as well as Matt did, it’s a real challenge to try to make sure we get better - or certainly different.

‘That’s maybe a better way to put it and get someone who suits how we want to play this season.

‘That’s been a really tough one, we haven’t quite managed to do that yet and we’re still working hard to do that.’

While Pompey are looking for an option to fill Ritchie’s boots, the same can be said for replacing the likes of Christian Saydee and Kusini Yengi with fresh blood up front.

The News understands St Johnstone front man Makenzie Kirk is being pursued in that department, with Peterborough United also keen on the 21-year-old.

Mousinho underlined improvement is what’s being sought, even if a new striker isn’t viewed as a like-for-like replacement for Saydee.

Pompey wouldn’t let Saydee go if they felt it weakened them

He added: ‘That’s the whole point really, to make sure we get better. Sometimes it’s possible and sometimes it’s not.

‘We obviously decided to let the pair of them (Saydee and Yengi) go because we backed ourselves as a squad where we were.

‘Particularly in Christian’s case, we wanted to be fair to him because of the service he gave the club and let him get minutes elsewhere.

‘We wouldn’t have done that if we thought it’d make us weaker. We do want to replace them behind that.

‘Christian in particular, we considered to be a 10 and this year we went into the season with Callum Lang and Adrian Segecic as our two 10s.

‘We just didn’t see Christian getting any playing time at all, so that was the decision we made there - but that is a department we’re looking to bolster.’

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