Portsmouth boss reveals Patrick Bamford transfer position with squad space free amid former Leeds United striker talk
Pompey were rumoured to be keen on the former Leeds United man who’s been linked with Middlesbrough, Wrexham and La Liga side Getafe. John Mousinho gives his response and discusses his available squad space.
John Mousinho has emphatically dismissed transfer talk linking Pompey with a move for out-of-contract striker Patrick Bamford.
And Mousinho has detailed the conditions in which the Blues will look to fill their available space with a free agent, after the summer transfer window’s close.
Mousinho clarifies former Leeds United man position
The window deadline may have past last month, but didn’t stop a wave of transfer speculation last week with talk emerging a deal was in the pipeline for the former Leeds United man.
Pompey’s name was mentioned along with Championship rivals Middlesbrough and Wrexham, with La Liga outfit Getafe also said to be keen on the 32-year-old.
Speaking at today’s Pompey press conference, Mousinho was emphatic in his position over a Bamford move when asked about the transfer talk.
The Pompey boss said: ‘There’s nothing in that at all, I don’t know where that’s come from at all.’
Mousinho: ‘Difficult to get free agents up to scratch’.
Mousinho developed Pompey’s thinking about keeping an available squad space and using 24 of the 25 available places, in addition to eight contracted under-21 players who don’t count towards the total.
Last season they took defender Alex Milosevic as a free agent, with Lee Evans also joining in the 2023-24 League One title-winning campaign. Pompey will do so again if injuries dictate, but Mousinho highlighted the pitfalls around doing so.
He added: ‘If we sign a free agent it will be purely reactive, we are happy with where we are at the moment. If we were to pick up three or four injuries than we would maybe look to react.
‘In terms of the squad as a whole, we’re leaving players out of the squad at the moment.
‘The one area we’re probably light on at the minute is out wide, with our pacier and more powerful players. We’ve got Josh Murphy and Harvey Blair just coming back from injury.
‘Franco (Umeh) and Callum (Lang) are both out, who are right at the top end in terms of explosiveness, pace and power. But we’re not looking to go and replace them in the short term, because they will all be back pretty soon.
‘We brought Alex Milosevic in last season and he had a big impact around the place, but he never set foot on the football pitch.
‘We would have made the same decision because of the influence he had, but he couldn’t quite get up to scratch and ended up tearing his calf. Lee Evans had a good impact, but took a while to get going after that injury.
‘A lot of times players who are out of contract and aren’t training with clubs, it can be very difficult to get them up to scratch - and by the time you do the January transfer window is here.’