'No frustration': Why John Mousinho is encouraged by Portsmouth transfer window progress

John Mousinho doesn’t anticipate any fresh signings before the weekend - yet remains encouraged about transfer progress.

Matt Macey is the sole business from Pompey’s January window to date, albeit being a free agent following his September departure from Luton.

Still, on the flipside, the Blues’ head coach is heartened that prime transfer targets have not yet gone elsewhere else.

According to an upbeat Mousinho, Pompey’s wish list remains intact as they pursue the calibre of signings which can clinch the league leaders a Championship return.

He told The News: ‘There’s nothing imminent, there’s a lot of talk and not a lot of movement in terms of actual transfer activity.

‘January is notoriously slow anyway, things will definitely heat up in the next couple of weeks. What happens with the Premier League clubs will have a knock-on effect.

‘The best way to summarise the window so far is a huge amount of work and conversations have gone into it, but nothing has transpired so far.

‘The big positive for us is we haven’t lost out on any targets yet. The ones we’re interested in are still being monitored and we’re making sure we keep a close eye on them.

‘We obviously don’t want to miss out on players - and we haven’t done that yet.

‘We want to make sure we get the best possible player with the best possible fit to come into the football club at the right time. If we have to be a bit more patient in January, we’ll be a bit more patient.

‘You become frustrated when we start to miss out on targets, possibly if we’re waiting on a player and missed out on a couple of other players because of that one.

‘That’s the fine balance you must strike. That hasn’t happened yet, so there’s no frustration, we’re just making sure we are keeping an eye on everything.’

Mousinho points to a January window this year impacted by the Africa Cup of Nations and the Asian Cup.

While the Premier League break has seen some teams head to training camps abroad, thereby also delaying recruitment.

Mousinho added: ‘One of the factors for this January being slow is availability of players with the Africa Cup of Nations and the Asian Cup. Premier League clubs have lost players going away for international duty, as have we.

‘There’s much more of a hesitancy to let players go, coupled with the fact Premier League sides are playing players in the FA Cup that might be available for loan if they don’t go through to the next round.

‘The final factor is there’s a break for Premier League clubs who go away to training camps and take a larger squad away with them.’