Crystal Palace starlet in Portsmouth's sights as Championship recruitment charge begins

John Mousinho has outlined ambitions to have a number of new signings lined up for the start of the transfer window.

And The News understands Crystal Palace’s Jadan Raymond remains of interest to Pompey, as plans are put in place for a busy summer of Championship recruitment.

The transfer picture has become clearer for the Blues in the wake of securing the League One title last week in glorious fashion.

Pompey’s football operation has been working to two lists of targets ahead of the summer window opening in June, depending on which division they were operating in next term.

They now have clarity on that front with the aim to deliver a repeat of last year’s flurry of activity, as the shutters came up for summer business.

The likes of Conor Shaughnessy, Will Norris, Christian Saydee, Anthony Scully and Terry Devlin were landed within days of the window opening, with the ambition to do likewise this year.

Raymond was on the Blues’ radar in the January window but a deal was never seen to fruition for the 20-year-old, who has four Trophy appearances to his name for the Eagles.

The attacking talent has featured for Wales at under-21 level and been an unused sub for the Londoners in the Premier League.

Mousinho believes having clarity on where Pompey are competing next season before the campaign’s end, is an advantage to his team.

The 37-year-old has his eyes firmly open to the size of the task ahead when it comes to competing with rivals at a higher level, but Mousinho is taking confidence from a strategy being in place for transfer business.

He said: ‘It does help us that we’ve got a slight head start now in terms of preparation, and we can now look at the list we’ve been compiling, which is the Championship list.

‘We can look at that and what it means for us over the summer. Hopefully by the time the transfer window opens we’re in a good position to push the button on a few deals like last summer.

‘People talk about some of the big budgets in this league, all of a sudden we’re in with sides with parachute payments coming down the Premier League. We’re obviously with clubs who’ve been there, done it and are fully established.

‘I think the good thing about this football club, though, is there is a plan in place. There’s a lot of people working behind the scenes to make sure we’re in a strong position going into next year. We’ll certainly make sure we do compete and have a good go.’