John Mousinho addresses Portsmouth loan conundrum as 'short-term pain' predicted ahead of Sheff Utd test
The Pompey boss could face a difficult decision over his loan signings ahead of this weekend's visit to Sheffield United.
John Mousinho has given an insight into Pompey’s decision to add a sixth loan signing to their squad during the final hours of the January transfer window.
In an interview with The News this week, Pompey chief executive Andy Cullen stressed the club were comfortable with the situation after the late addition of Liverpool youngster Kaide Gordon took them to six loan signings for the season.
With only five permitted in a Championship match-day squad, Mousinho could be facing some awkward decisions over the coming weeks and months - and they could come sooner rather than later as one temporary addition closes in on a return to fitness ahead of this weekend’s trip to promotion contenders Sheffield United.
Injury has limited on-loan Brighton striker Mark O’Mahony to just nine appearances since moving to Fratton Park on a season-long deal in the summer - but he’s now closing in on a return from a side strain he suffered in a 2-2 draw with Swansea City in November. Should he be available for Saturday’s visit to Bramall Lane, Mousinho will have to decide which one of his loanees is omitted from his match-day squad to remain in line with EFL regulations.
Despite being placed in a difficult situation, the Pompey boss defended the club’s use of the loan market.
He said: ‘Whether he’s (O’Mahony) available for the weekend or not, I don’t know - but he’s been training this week and he had a full training session today and we will see how he is after that session.
‘We’ll maybe check on him Friday and go from there but it’s much more positive for Mark than it has been over the last few weeks.
‘We will have a look at that on a case-by-case basis (having six loan players available). We’ve had the loans in this season and we’ve never had that full compliment until we brought Adil Aouchiche (Friday) and Kaide in so we’ve got six.
‘But there have been times when we’ve brought the loans in and they’ve not been available for whatever reason and we have been way below that. If you remember where we were after the Plymouth game and Michael and Eric (Eisner) spoke about what we would probably look to do in January and look at the loan market a bit more. I think that’s a consequence of us knowing we would need to strengthen in the short-term but what we don’t want to do is do anything that jeopardises us in the future or doesn’t give us the flexibility in the summer. Getting the loans in is a really important thing for us.’
‘Makes us stronger’
The deadline day addition of youngster Gordon took Pompey over the line with loan additions - but Mousinho has revealed discovering such a young and talented player was available so late in the window meant the club felt action had to be taken.
He added: ‘The decision came down to us looking and going “it’s not ideal, it’s not something we desperately wanted to do and bring in six loans because of the fact we can only name five in the matchday squad”. When Kaide became available, we had to trade those two off so it was the trade off by saying what’s the best thing for the football club and there might be a bit of short-term pain sometimes on some weekends if we end up leaving someone out. But we think it makes us stronger as a squad and gives us a better chance of staying in the league.’
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