‘We’re not making friends here’: Portsmouth boss’ message over making brutal squad call in January transfer window
John Mousinho admitted Pompey will deregister players again if necessary as they completed their first window business.
But the Blues boss stressed the aim is for every current member of his squad to have the chance to play competitive football over the second half of the season.
Pompey are at that limit before the loan signing of Rob Atkinson from Bristol City yesterday, raising an interesting prospect ahead of the trip to Sunderland.
They have flexibility to register and deregister through the January window, but someone would need to make way for Atkinson to feature at the Stadium of Light.
Colby Bishop replaced the injured Ibane Bowat at the start of November. Meanwhile, Tom Lowery and Ben Stevenson have been in limbo after being deregistered following the summer window’s close.
The likes of Ryley Towler, Will Norris, Owen Moxon and Tom McIntyre’s futures are under the microscope this month with exits possible, while Sammy Silvera could be set for a Middlesbrough loan recall.
All of those players occupy squad spaces and Mousinho hasn’t ruled out deregistering players again.
Speaking before Atkinson’s signing, Mousinho said: ‘We wouldn’t want to do it, but if we had to we’d do it. We’re not making friends here, we’re in the business of making sure we stay in the Championship.
‘So if it happens it happens, but we want to be fair for players’ careers here and we want them to be eligible to play football. That’s the fairest thing for footballers - they can actually ply their trade.’
Permanent signings under the age of 22 don’t count towards the 25-man total, with Harvey Blair, Terry Devlin, Abdoulaye Kamara, Toby Steward and Reuben Swann falling into that category. Meanwhile, new homes will be sought for Lowery and Stevenson this month to get their careers moving again.
Mousinho added: ‘If we recruit one (over the age of 21) we have to move one out, so if even if we only do one or two we have to move players out - so there will be a focus on that.
‘We’re don’t want players coming in and then players who are just deregistered.
‘We obviously didn’t have that intention this year, but ended up with a couple of players who weren’t registered and available to play. Our goal by the end of January is to not have any players in and around the squad who aren’t eligible to play.’