‘Football and financial’: Portsmouth’s cash boost as boss makes midfielder call

And the Blues boss stated a belief he feels the midfielder is not yet ready to star in the Championship, after agreeing a deadline-day move to Stockport County.

Moxon’s time at Fratton Park came to a close on Monday a year on from arriving from Carlisle, as the League One outfit handed the 27-year-old a three-and-a-half year deal paying an undisclosed fee.

The News understands Pompey made a profit on the player, with Mousinho indicating the agreement made sense from a sporting perspective as well as the financial side of things. That included factoring in the best pathway for Moxon, as he searches for the regular football he wasn’t getting at PO4.

Mousinho said: ‘It was a tough one with Mox, because he wouldn’t have had the playing time this season he would’ve wanted and needed.

‘It was an honest conversation with Owen about where we saw his future at the football club. We definitely didn’t think it was 100 per cent over, if he wanted to go out on loan, but a permanent opportunity came up at a club where he could earn himself a contract - and we didn’t necessarily want to stand in his way.

‘It made sense from a football club perspective and a financial perspective, so both sides of it.

‘Owen just hasn’t featured anywhere near enough this season, so did we want to keep a player around who we didn’t have intentions of playing a huge amount? He had a chance, don’t get me wrong, but as it stood he wasn’t playing a huge amount or in the squad so it made sense.’

Moxon made 28 appearances in his time at Pompey, with 11 of those outings coming as starts. This term the powerful operator managed just two league appearances from the outset, with no league action across the past 11 fixtures.

Raw material

Mousinho was clear in his view he didn’t see Moxon making the grade in the Championship at present, though he believes that is a picture which can change with regular football.

He added: ‘You could probably see that (he didn’t think he was ready for the Championship).

‘My opinion of Mox is he needs games and game time to improve as most players do. He wasn’t getting that here, but if he gets those games at the top end of League One, which I think he will, there’s every chance he can turn himself into a Championship player.

‘There’s the raw material to do that, though, and there’s plenty of improvement there.’