John Mousinho: Why Portsmouth sold Ryley Towler to Lincoln City - and what happens next over defender transfers
John Mousinho has spoken about the factors behind the Bristol City arrival’s transfer exit and what is the transfer picture over further defensive additions.
John Mousinho believes Ryley Towler’s Pompey exit was no fault of his own.
The Blues boss feels the emergence of other defenders and their Fratton form put paid to the fans’ favourite’s time at PO4.
Why John Mousinho let Ryley Towler leave Pompey
And Mousinho has outlined he currently remains comfortable with his options at the back, despite Towler moving on to Lincoln City.
The 23-year-old’s two-and-a-half year stay with Pompey came to a close last night, as he linked up with the League One outfit.
Towler’s excellent Fratton start next accelerated, as he was limited to six League One appearances in the title-winning season and then an improved 12 Championship outings next term.
Mousinho highlighted how the likes of Conor Shaughnessy and Regan Poole emerged at Fratton Park knocking him down the pecking order, while Hayden Matthews enjoyed a decent start to his Pompey career in January before injury curtailed his season.
Towler undoubtedly leaves Pompey as a massive popular figure with supporters, however.
He said: ‘Ryley has been a really big player over the past two-and-a-half years.
‘He may not have played too much, but he was really in the League One campaign when we finished eighth and he scored some important goals.
‘He was just really unlucky the following season when Conor Shaughnessy and Regan Poole came and there was Sean Raggett.
‘They were all putting in excellent performances ahead of Ryley, but through no fault of his own found himself on the periphery.
‘It was really pleasing for us last year for him to play as much as he did in the Championship.
‘It was one of the things we spoke about at the back end of the year, where there were players ahead of him and what the best thing for him to do was.
Pompey boss reveals defender transfer latest
‘Ultimately, we thought the best thing for him to do was to move on and play regular games at another club.
‘It’s happened to be a really good club for Ryley to join, I think he’ll thrive at Lincoln and I’m really looking forward to tracking his progress. I’m looking forward to seeing how he gets on there.’
After Towler’s exit Pompey are now left with a group of five central defenders, with Conor Shaughnessy, Regan Poole, Ibane Bowat, Hayden Matthews and Tom McIntyre the quintet John Mousinho can call upon.
That means the Blues are not currently active in looking for new players in that department, though that could change if there’s any further exits there. That would likely centre upon McIntyre, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Charlton.
Mousinho said: ‘We’re still relatively heavy in terms of centre-halves.
‘We’ve still got five contracted there so, at the moment, it’s not a priority The five of them are fit at the moment, with Tom coming back from Charlton - so it’s not an area of priority.’