‘Exciting’: Portsmouth boss reveals intensifying recruitment drive with additions in sights

And the Blues boss revealed his hunt for quality has seriously intensified since the season came to a close.

Mousinho has consistently explained how recruitment staff have been grafting since he came in, with their eyes on the summer window which opens on June 10.

But the head coach admitted even that work has gone through the gears over the past fortnight, with the likes of Sam Smith, Gavin Whyte and Tommy Leigh mentioned as options.

Mousinho said: ‘Recruitment is going really well. We’ve been working really hard since the close of the January window to make sure we have a comprehensive long list of targets whittled down to shortlists.

‘Then we can start having conversations, serious conversations, with players we can have conversations with.

‘That’s quite an exciting point for us, because there’s a lot of work which goes into it - just because of the sheer volume of players out there and permutations which exist with every single one.

‘There’s clubs, there’s agents and players to speak to – and sometimes three or four people in between that believe it or not.

‘It’s an exciting time to be part of the football club. We know we have quite a lot of work to do and it’s been very, very busy over the past couple of weeks - much busier than in the season, actually.’

Mousinho is keen, as most managers are, to get business in the can as early as possible, while being realistic about the kind of deals which become available later in the window.

The Pompey boss feels one deal falling in place will be the domino for others to get over the line, as one profile of player coming in potentially narrows the parameters for the next.

Mousinho added: ‘I think everyone is really looking forward to what that looks like, we just have to make sure we’re sensible with the way we approach it.

‘We want to do a lot of good work early if possible. I just think if one gets over the line early, a few more will follow.

‘It’s one of those things which is ongoing over the next few months - May, June, July and even into August.

'We’ll hopefully be signing players right up until the back end of the window.’