John Mousinho's honest Portsmouth transfer admission as wait continues ahead of Leeds opener

Although the Blues head coach admits he would have liked more signings at this stage of the summer.

So far six new faces have arrived at Fratton Park in preparation for their return to the Championship after 12 years away.

That includes back-up keeper Jordan Archer, promising Reuben Swann who is earmarked to be loaned out, and 21-year-old Australian Jacob Farrell.

The centre of midfield is a position which is glaringly in need of strengthening, while Colby Bishop’s absence now renders another centre-forward essential.

Yet Mousinho remains relaxed over the situation with the August 10 kick-off against Leeds looming.

He told The News: ‘We probably haven’t got as many players in as we would have liked at this stage.

‘But it’s the same message, we want to get the right players in and are willing to wait for that. There's still not a huge amount of movement in the market.

‘We are not missing out on players, we’re just having to wait for the right players and are willing to do that, there’s still a long time left in the window.

‘There are obviously only eight days until the start of the campaign, but we have 46 league games to worry about, not just the first game of the season, so we’ve got to make sure we get it right.

‘I am not particularly frustrated. We feel we have a decent-enough squad and opportunities for players to step up in pre-season, that’s what we’ve been able to give these players.

‘They’ve had plenty of minutes, we have seen a lot of them over last weekend (against Wycombe) and MK Dons - and I think that’s a really good thing for us as a football club.’

Blackburn had previously been quiet in the market, yet unveiled four players on Wednesday, including Makhtar Gueye (Molenbeek) and Exauce Mafoumbi (Nantes).

Free agent Devante Cole became West Brom’s fifth signing of the summer, while Stoke unveiled their fourth recruit after buying Sam Gallagher from Blackburn.

Mousinho added: ‘That’s very indicative of the state of play, there isn’t a lot of movement and all the clubs are doing the same thing.

‘It’s about making sure you sign the right players at the right time.’