LATEST: Portsmouth’s position over Manchester City starlet’s return with Chelsea talent in sights

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Pompey are having to maintain patience as they bid to bring their title-winning loan stars back to Fratton Park.

Manchester City’s Alex Robertson is wanted back at PO4 next term, after an outstanding stay over the first half of the League One championship campaign.

And Blues boss John Mousinho admitted he’d like to see Tino Anjorin return in the second tier, with a belief the midfielder’s injury woes are behind him.

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The News understands, however, efforts to make in-roads with Premier League clubs over deals are currently failing to progress.

Pompey’s football operation are continuing to work away at deals after a strong start to business, with five players through the door.

New head of recruitment Brad Wall is also now in place, after arriving from Premier League champions City.

In many instances the movement at the top end of the game is proving slow, however, with Pompey realising composure is needed over loan opportunities.

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In City’s case, they depart for a four-game tour in the United States, which stretches from July 23 until August 3. With Chelsea’s, they are also Stateside for five games, from July 24 until August 6.

There’s every chance the likes of Robertson and Anjorin will be required for those fixtures, especially with many club’s internationals on duty at the European Championships this summer.

Mousinho said: ‘We’ve spoken about what Premier League clubs do pre-season, where they take a group to a faraway country and keep all the 21s in, because the internationals have been competing at tournaments and are given more time off.

‘All of that just means there’s a bit of delay on everything.

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‘That’s fine, absolutely fine. We just want to make sure we get the right players and wait to get those players in.

‘It’s just that fine balance of making sure you don’t miss out on something by waiting too long.

‘Depending on which clubs we’re taking players from, if we’re talking about Premier League clubs for example, often the power lies with them.

‘So we have to be patient, wait for squads to develop and squad lists to be decided on before we can actually move and do anything.’

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