Why Portsmouth are prepared to wait as they aim high for targets while Charlton Athletic, Blackpool, Carlisle United & Co strike deals

Pompey believe they can be rewarded for holding their nerve in the January window.

And the Blues feel sizeable opportunities could present themselves they’d would otherwise miss out on, if they moved early this month for recruits.

The market is firmly up and running for business this month, as we enter the second week of transfer activity at the start of 2024. Moves are starting to get over the line, with Pompey ready to react should a deal come along at this juncture.

Sporting director, Rich Hughes, believes the dynamic of the January window lends itself to transfers happening late in the day in contrast to the summer, however. And Pompey will be looking to see what’s unfolding, with out-of-favour of players at a higher level potentially looking to move late in the day.

That is a scenario which could provide richer pickings over doing business now.

Boss John Mousinho said: ‘That happens (looking at teams selected) and it filters down.

‘You can get outgoings at high levels and that then frees up someone who might have been on the team sheet and all of a sudden find themselves out of the squad.

‘That’s something that’s really interesting for us, because all of a sudden players become available who you’d thought wasn’t available at all. That happens up and down the country time and time again - that’s why we have to be flexible.

‘We have to have a long list of ones we would take and stay flexible on it. At the same time if an opportunity pops up and we think that would be one to take, then we need to be in a position to take that one.’

Pompey are fully aware they could pull the trigger now and move to bring in players, if they wanted to.

But Mousinho has stressed the importance of landing players who improve the squad, rather than bringing in bodies for the sake of it. And the mantra of aiming high for additions this month is still firmly resonating through Pompey’s recruitment.

Mousinho added: ‘There’s one thing we’ve been very clear about since the minute I took the job. Any decision that we made here as recruitment staff would be made in the best interests of the football club.

‘We want to stick by that and not bring in players for the sake of it as a stop gap or as a panic. We need to make sure they make us significantly better at the end of the transfer window.

‘What we want to do is be in a better position by February 1 than we are today. It’s not always that straightforward, sometimes you can make yourself weaker and do the wrong things. We want to do the right things and make ourselves stronger for the run-in.’