'I guess it's yes' - How Portsmouth value Colby Bishop as highly-rated striker prepares for Accrington reunion

And the head coach isn’t worried by any potential interest his star striker could attract at the end of the season.

The Blues splashed the cash in July, bringing the 26-year-old to Fratton Park for a reported £500,000 fee from Accrington.

His arrival represented Pompey’s biggest transaction of the window, with Danny Cowley securing his main target after fending off interest from Championship outfit Blackpool.

Bishop has starred in attack this term, netting 19 goals in all competitions in his maiden campaign at PO4.

An impressive first half of the season saw Blackburn boss Jon Dahl Tomasson in attendance during the Blues’ 2-0 win over Fleetwood in January.

Mousinho has no intentions of letting his star striker depart Fratton Park in the summer, though.

And while interest could still emerge, he sees that as a compliment rather than something to worry about.

When questioned if he believed Bishop’s value had increased, the head coach said: ‘I guess it’s yes but it depends on what everyone else thinks.

‘I’d certainly put a huge amount of value on Colby and his contribution and what he has done this year.

‘The goals have been brilliant, they’re a nice little addition and the cherry on the cake, but it’s everything else that he does that is really important to me.

‘He leads the line terrifically well, he’s a real handful to play against, can hold the ball, run in behind, can challenge physically but most importantly he can score goals.

‘If you talk about value, when you go up the league the centre-forwards who score are the most valuable players. He’s a massive part of this squad.

‘I would hope that we could put ourselves in a position where, if we’re playing well enough, that there is attraction for all of our players from clubs in the level above.

‘It’s then up to us to make sure that we become that club at some point.

‘If we didn’t have players who had interest from other clubs then we aren’t doing a good enough job.

‘That’s a real compliment and I hope the scouts come and they don’t like what they see but inevitably they’re going to because we’ve got some good players and Colby is one of them.

Bishop returns to Accrington, where he netted 39 times in 122 outings for the Wham Stadium outfit, on Tuesday as Pompey make the long midweek trip to the north west.

And Mousinho believes a warm welcome lies in wait for the front man from home supporters.

‘I will be really surprised if he doesn’t get a warm welcome,’ he added.

‘You never know with fans but I think he was an excellent servant when he was there and scored a lot of goals.

‘I played against him when he was at Accrington and he was an excellent centre-forward then and I believe he’s even better now.

‘It was always a case of going up there and marking Colby Bishop and Dion Charles, it was never a nice prospect.’