Contract D-Day revealed by John Mousinho as Portsmouth 13 wait to learn their Fratton futures

The week beginning May 8 is pencilled in as D-day for the 13 whose contracts expire on July 1.

That represents the day after the last match of the League One campaign, when promotion-chasing Wycombe visit Fratton Park.

Although that date could change if the Blues manage to rejuvenate their fading play-offs hopes and reach the top six to prolong their season.

Still, Mousinho’s preference is for his players to focus on the final five matches rather than being ‘clouded’ by the prospect of contract decisions.

And he insists it’s an approach which Pompey’s players have bought into.

He told The News: ‘What want to do at the moment is actually focus on everything that’s going on on the pitch. That has been the right way to do things, we don’t want to have any contractual decisions clouding that.

‘Come the end of the season, we will sit down and have good honest conversations with the players.

‘No players have had an issue with that, none have come up to me and said “We need to know what’s going on with contracts next season”.

‘I think mainly because, when the season finishes, there is still a huge amount of time before players are even allowed to talk to other clubs.

‘There's a strange myth that players are allowed to talk to other clubs in the final six months of their contract – it’s not true. Players can talk four days after the last game of the season or the third Saturday in May.

‘Everyone knows what the situation is and gets on with it. We haven't started to think about end-of-season discussions yet because we don’t know when they’re going to be. We hope at the back end of May, if not then we will deal with them after the Wycombe game.

‘Thankfully we have something to play for for the rest of the season and, in all honesty, I don’t want contractual discussions clouding anyone’s thinking or anyone’s focus.

‘We really do have to knuckle down and make sure we win a few games before thinking about anything to do with that.’

Jay Mingi has already been offered a contract, which has remained unsigned since December, yet the remaining 12 players have still to learn their fate.

That includes skipper Clark Robertson, Ronan Curtis, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Louis Thompson, Michael Jacobs, Connor Ogilvie and Josh Oluwayemi.