Portsmouth’s striker update with starlet in sights ahead of transfer deadline
The Pompey boss talks bringing in a young striker with Makenzie Kirk their target - and Fratton exits ahead of transfer deadline day.
John Mousinho acknowledged recruiting an emerging striker is a viable pathway to bolstering their front line with Makenzie Kirk in their sights.
The Blues boss believes his side have to be ‘smart’ in the way they add to their front line, as they eye bringing in St Johnstone’s promising, young front man.
Pompey won’t ‘shy away’ from bringing in young striker
Pompey are pushing on with their efforts to land Kirk, with Peterborough United also on the trail of the 21-year-old.
They’ve already had a £500,000 bid rejected for the Northern Ireland prospect knock, who was prolific coming through the ranks at Hearts and then bagged nine Scottish Premier League goals last term despite his side finishing bottom of the table.
Pompey fans are hungry for new additions up front and want to see some powerful options added to their ranks, before the window closes on Monday evening.
A winger remains a priority with Mousinho acknowledging Matt Ritchie’s attributes have not yet been replaced, after he departed for Reading.
In the case of a striker, however, the Pompey boss believes having Colby Bishop has his established striker lends to a younger front man arriving.
He said: ‘We certainly wouldn’t shy away from that (signing an up-and-coming striker).
‘It’s a very difficult thing to recruit a centre-forward under a centre-forward who’s been successful for many years, certainly last season at this level and the two years before that when ‘I worked with Colby when he was outstanding.
‘Previously to signing Colby I always knew what a good operator he was having done it with Accrington.
‘So it’s hard sometimes to convince someone they have a crack at getting into the starting line-up when Colby’s playing and he’s captain of the side currently - so we have to be smart about what we recruit under that.’
With Ritchie’s exit yesterday confirmed, Pompey are still looking to move on out of favour defender Tom McIntyre and midfielder Abdoulaye Kamara before the transfer deadline. Mousinho feels Kamara’s exit is ‘close’ with there still an opportunity for McIntyre to move on.
Kamara ‘close’ to Pompey exit
He added: ‘We’re working hard to come to a resolution and we’re pretty close with Abdou.
‘It’s something I’ve been broadly across but not in the specifics of anything. With Tom, I think there’s a bit of interest as well.
‘So hopefully for those players to get that playing time as well, hopefully we have figured out by the end of the window.
‘I think they will be fixed up, they are good enough players. Sometimes it takes the start of the season and a couple of injured to readjust early on - and club’s naturally don’t do all of their business early on.’