Latest: Portsmouth boss delivers crucial Callum Lang transfer update amid £1.5m Preston North End chase
The latest developments on Callum Lang’s Pompey future this evening, as Pompey boss John Mousinho talks about Championship rival’s Preston North End’s interest in his player.
John Mousinho is adamant Pompey are under no pressure to sell Callum Lang as Preston North End chase one of their prized assets.
But the Blues boss admitted his club would have to consider cashing in on the attacker if a bid met their valuation, as Mousinho revealed talks over a new Lang deal haven’t progressed.
Mousinho on Lang valuation being met: ‘Balance that against short-term needs’
Preston are believed to be renewing their interest in the Scouser, amid reports the play-off chasing Championship outfit have tabled a £1.5m bid for the attacker.
Lang has six months to go on his existing deal, with Pompey holding a 12-month option in their favour to give them some security over the 27-year-old’s future.
Mousinho explained he’s not been informed of any bid nor had discussions with the big Fratton favourite, who is currently sidelined with a hamstring issue.
The head coach has given a detailed update on both his and Pompey’s position on the issue , which is one of comfort from both him and his club. That’s regardless of their stated policy of developing players as assets and selling them on.
Mousinho said: ‘In any conversation that (the trading model) would be less of a concern, because we don’t need to sell players. Regardless of anyone’s opinions of the owners, there’s no pressure on us to sell anyone.
‘That doesn’t mean we won’t sell anyone in this window or the future, because there’s been a lot more factors which go into that.
‘Certainly from a model perspective, at the minute, it’s not something we’re worried about.
‘You have to have a look at that (a valuation being met) and balance that off against the short-term needs of what we’re facing this season.
‘I want Callum to stay, there’s no doubt about that but there’s many different factors to that.
‘One thing I’m sure of is there will be no pressure from the board saying we have to sell Callum Lang, if we receive a bid. There’s zero probability of that happening
‘At the minute, genuinely, it’s just paper talk. I have nothing official saying a bid has been submitted and I haven’t spoken to Callum about it.
‘I’m sure there’s plenty of history in football of head coaches and managers in football, who didn’t want players to leave and they end up leaving.
‘We have a player that’s contracted and we’re in a really good position with it, so there’s no panic from our perspective.
‘I’m sure if Callum does want to leave he’ll come and speak to me, because we have a really good relationship and he’s been really good for the football club - so we’ll go from there.
‘I think you just take everything on its merits, consider where you are as a club and go from there.’
Lang Pompey contract talks not ‘revisited’ after discussions
In another new development on Lang, Mousinho today confirmed to The News initial discussions over a new deal for the Wigan signing took place earlier this season.
The were not ‘revisited’ however, in a campaign where Lang has gone on to be restricted to seven league starts amid hamstring issues.
The lack of new Lang contract after those talks is in contrast to new deals being agreed for Colby Bishop, Terry Devlin, Regan Poole, Josh Murphy and Nicolas Schmid in the last year.
Mousinho added: ‘We spoke about it (a new contract) earlier in the season and it’s something we haven’t revisited since then.
‘We’re always willing and we’re always trying to improve contracts if we can, for players who want to sign and players who want to stay here.
‘If we can fit it into what we think is a realistic value for any player we’ve shown in the past six or seven months, when we have players who step up to the level, we will try to reward that.’