‘What we’ve spent on entire squad’: Portsmouth boss' sobering message amid increased transfer spending
Pompey increased their transfer outlay this summer, as Championship spending reached record levels
John Mousinho is confident Pompey used their increased transfer kitty wisely this summer.
But the Blues boss underlined the reality his club are still spending a fraction of what many of their Championship rivals have at their disposal.
Pompey boss: ‘Clubs have spent on one player what we’ve spent on an entire squad’
And that still makes it a ‘massive balancing act’ for his football operation to get their business right, as they upped the fees shelled out over the past window.
Much was made of the progression in terms of fees paid ahead of Pompey’s third campaign, with around £11m spent on 11 players.
The initial £3m paid to land Marko Milovanović, £2.5m for Abu Kamara, £2.2m for Tyrese Shade and £2.1m to bring in Rocco Shein represents outlays not seen since the Premier League days at Fratton Park.
Championship spending has increased this summer to record levels, however, with some huge fees spent elsewhere across the division and cumulative £289.3m splashed out.
Struggling Burnley’s £20.8m to land Florentino Luis permanently was the biggest fee paid in the second tier, though there’s also been the likes of Will Lankshear joining Middlesbrough from Spurs for an initial £10m and Ethan Galbraith linking up with Stoke City from Swansea City for a similar fee.
There’s plenty of further examples of spending to a similar extent, though Pompey have needed to balance off their expenditure with smaller fees, free transfers and loans to create the squad depth required this term.
Mousinho feels these are all considerations when assessing the terrain his club are competing in.
He said: ‘I think we did our business relatively well.
‘It’s really interesting when we go and spend the amount of money we spent this summer.
‘I don’t want to act irresponsibly and it’s cry me a river, but it’s still really low in terms of some of the other clubs and what they’ve spent.
‘Some clubs have spent on one player what we’ve spent on an entire squad.
‘That happens, but it has been nice to have more than what we’ve had previously.
‘It has been different, but what we had to do when we go into those realms and spend more than what we’ve spent before is make sure we do it right.
‘You try to minimise how many you get wrong. That’s not just because of the pressure which comes with spending money, but we just want to get them right and have good players in the building.
‘It’s much more about that.
‘So trying to balance that off with bringing in players who are on a free or players who are on loan is just a massive balancing act.’