Portsmouth transfer option confirmed after EFL squad announcement

The league this week published their members’ playing options for the rest of the season, after the close of the transfer window earlier this month.

And the Blues’ plan to leave a space open in their group of senior players has been formalised, after they registered the players they will pick from for the rest of the 2024-25 season.

Pompey will have a total of 31 players in their playing group, comprising 24 ‘in squad’ options with an additional seven contracted under-21 players.

There were few surprises in the make-up of the group which was officially published on the EFL website on Tuesday, with Mousinho already confirming the club’s plan to have the flexibility of leaving a space open.

New faces Adil Aouchiche, Cohen Bramall, Kaide Gordon, Thomas Waddingham, Hayden Matthews, Ben Killip and Isaac Hayden were all included.

With Nico Schmid able to gain full status under Home Office Governing Body Endorsement rules (GBE), that freed Aouchiche to claim one of the four available berths under relaxed criteria along with Matthews, Waddingham and Abdoulaye Kamara.

Pompey are able to name seven contracted under-21 players, who are available outside of the main group. Matthews, Waddingham, Kamara, Harvey Blair, Terry Devlin, Toby Steward and Reuben Swann are those options.

Unlike the first half of the season, there are no players remaining at the club outside of the group registered with the EFL. That was the case for Tom Lowery and Ben Stevenson, who found their careers in limbo until their exits at the end of last month.

Pompey were also able to spring a surprise by registering Colby Bishop, when he returned from heart surgery ahead of schedule at the start of November. They did that by deregistering Ibane Bowat, whose season is over after suffering a serious knee injury after his arrival from Fulham.

Mousinho told The News last week about the flexibility he feels the free space in his 25-man squad brings.

He said: ‘There’s no one that we want to take (as a free agent) right now, but we probably thought exactly the same thing last season.

‘We were comfortable at the back end of January and Lee (Evans) was still doing his MCL (knee ligament) rehab, but he came through in March and was training with Ipswich, so it became a possibility.

‘That was particularly the case with the Tom Lowery and Joe Morrell injuries we had, so it became smart business for us. If we’re faced with something similar again this year we have the available spot, or if one of the players we expected will be out with a longer-term injury comes back we have the spot as well. It’s useful for us to have.’

Pompey’s 24-man squad

Keepers

Nico Schmid, Jordan Archer, Ben Killip,

Defenders

Rob Atkinson, Cohen Bramall, Connor Ogilvie, Conor Shaughnessy, Zak Swanson, Ryley Towler, Jordan Williams, Regan Poole.

Midfielders

Andre Dozzell, Isaac Hayden, Marlon Pack, Freddie Potts

Attackers

Adil Aouchiche, Kaide Gordon, Callum Lang, Josh Murphy, Matt Ritchie, Christian Saydee

Strikers

Colby Bishop, Mark O’Mahony, Kusini Yengi

Contracted under-21 players

Harvey Blair, Terry Devlin, Abdoulaye Kamara, Hayden Matthews, Toby Steward, Reuben Swann, Thomas Waddingham.