John Mousinho's 'excitement' over Portsmouth squad overhaul - and pinpoints when process will begin

And the process will get underway tomorrow, when the current squad are to be informed whether they possess a Fratton future.

The Blues’ campaign ended on Sunday, with a 2-2 draw against Wycombe securing them eighth spot in League One.

That Fratton Park match will mark the final outing for many of Mousinho’s players as the club targets a busy transfer window.

Firstly decisions must be taken on the 13 out-of-contract players, plus the loanees they wish to attempt to keep.

That represents the start of the Blues’ clear-out as they seek to recruit 9-10 new faces to launch another promotion bid next term.

Mousinho told The News: ‘We are excited and know there’s a lot of work to do.

‘It provides us with a lot of opportunity and we’ve been working away behind the scenes over the past few months to get a start on this summer’s recruitment.

‘There are a couple of things which excite us. Firstly, the way we finished the season and some of the stuff we have done over the last 2-3 months has been really, really positive.

‘Now we have that eight-week break before pre-season and then another six weeks in pre-season to really build on what we’ve done at the back end of the year.

‘We will come back with a new-look squad at the start of the next season and it is very, very exciting, but there’s a huge amount of work to do.

‘It looks like an overhaul and it might be in terms of numbers – there may be a few numbers coming – but the core is here.

‘If you look at the side which played against Wycombe, taking away 2-3 players everybody is contracted for next season.

‘That’s a side which has performed well against a Wycombe team who were play-off finalists last year and really fancied to push again this year.’

Pompey’s players will be allocated individual meetings with Mousinho at the training ground from tomorrow.

That will continue over the course of this week, with Zoom calls to be held with those unable to attend in person.

And Mousinho believes everyone’s future will be clarified by the end of this week.

He added: ‘Some of the discussions will be about contracts, some will be end-of-season reviews for the lads we’ve got next year.

‘There’s a wide variety of things we need to get sorted and I wanted to sit down with everyone at the football club before Tuesday and make sure we;re squared away with everything.

‘It’s a good way to do it. I wanted players to play for Portsmouth against Wycombe and not have contracts on their minds, with me not having had conversations with them this week – and I thought it worked really well.

‘Preferably discussions will be held face-to-face, that’s the right way to do things and the lads have given me everything over the last few months and credit to them.

‘The situation I came into with what players had experienced was tough. They could have gone the other way, but have bought into everything we’ve done, worked extremely hard and performances, for the most part, have reflected that.’