Pompey boss: We need the right player '“ not any player

Kenny Jackett has reassured the Fratton faithful that Pompey are working hard to recruit.

But the Blues boss emphasised the necessity for the '˜right' player to be signed.

Pompey remain in the market for fresh faces ahead of Thursday's deadline day for permanent deals.

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It is widely accepted the club are seeking an attacking midfielder and pacy striker to bolster their squad.

That has still to come to fruition, but Jackett is adamant the club are continuing to strive behind the scenes to complete signings.

He said: '˜It's very competitive and what you'˜ll find is all the clubs around you '“ and some not '“ will be phoning about the same players.

'˜There's no real secrets. With the amount of video information you can get on almost any league in the world now, you can sit there and go through different scouting databases to get leads from.

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'˜That is before you speak on the phone to the agents, who throw suggestions your way on players that might be about where your club is in that particular division.

'˜It's definitely a very competitive industry, especially the further up you go.

'˜I would think Portsmouth in League Two, to a degree, could blow away opposition in League Two, but as we are creeping towards the top end of this league it's slightly different.

'˜There are a lot of clubs around us with similar finances and that is where you need to be clever, you need to be first, you need to take not always the best players but the right players.

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'˜It's very easy to sign players, don't get me wrong, but you want to sign good ones '“ and most importantly the right players for the right time.'

Pompey recruited five of their six pre-season signings before June 11.

While the sixth '“ Anton Walkes '“ had been in the pipeline long before eventually arriving on July 18.

But Jackett's player hunt is not over.

He added: '˜To be successful you don't always need the best players, but you do need the right players.

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'˜They must have hunger, desire, balance, complement, you can be overloaded in some areas '“ with good players not getting into the team '“ and weak in others.

'˜Yes you want good players '“ but scouting is about the right players and right people for that particular time.'

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