Danny Cowley reveals Portsmouth transfer blueprint as plans for summer are laid bare

Danny Cowley has detailed Pompey’s long-term transfer strategy.
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The Blues boss has revealed the club’s intention to focus on landing young players he can develop and sell for a profit, while immediately impacting the first-team picture.

Cowley stated his intention to land up to five players in that category - and stressed those targets will likely come at a cost.

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The 43-year-old highlighted Denver Hume as a perfect example of the type of addition he’s identified, following the 23-year-old’s £200,000 arrival from Sunderland.

Pompey boss Danny Cowley. (Photo by Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.com)Pompey boss Danny Cowley. (Photo by Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.com)
Pompey boss Danny Cowley. (Photo by Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.com)

And he feels he will get backing from Pompey’s owners to execute the plan.

Cowley said: ‘Going forward we want four or five young, exciting players who are really exciting, who have growth in them.

‘They can excel on the pitch and be an asset in the longer term for the business.

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‘I see that as a really good recruitment strategy going forward.

‘We have to respect the infrastructure of our club at the moment, so we have to sign players who are ready to come in and play.

‘That’s why Denver Hume is such a good signing for us. He’s ready to come in and play, but there’s still growth in him.

‘These are the ones we need to target, maybe three or four more like Denver.

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‘In our managerial career, we’ve certainly had a lot of success with these types of players.

‘The owners have shown in the past if we can develop these types of players, enjoy their success on the pitch and sell them at the right time they are willing to reinvest back into the football operation.

‘They are the ones we’d like.‘They’d obviously cost a bit more in terms of transfer fee, but if we can target the right clubs we can find these players on a lower wage and it’s a strategy which can work for us.’

Cowley believes the strategy assumes extra significance with the academy going through a period of transition under Greg Miller following his arrival last year, and no under-23 team in place.

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The Pompey boss believes picking off promising youngsters from other clubs is the route to travel in the meantime.

He added: ‘If we compare ourselves to the rest of League One, there are clubs further down the line in terms of their academies and 23s with production of players.

‘We’ve made giant strides with the academy since Greg Miller has come to post, and we’re on an upward trajectory.

‘It will take time to have a decent conveyor belt of players, which we need for the sustainability of this club going forward.

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‘We have to work tirelessly to do that. We’ve seen the benefit of players coming into the first team being sold for significant money to Premier League clubs.

‘While we’re not developing our own, we need to identify maybe younger players at lower levels - maybe League Two or National League level.

‘We have to identify players coming out of Category One academies we can create a pathway for.

‘We can then create a development pathway for them to play in the first team, develop, improve and become an asset.’

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