Portsmouth boss details midfield thinking as he prepares to welcome £50,000-a-week Newcastle United man

The Blues are close to confirming the loan signing of the Newcastle United man, as they head off competition from Championship rivals to land the forceful operator.

Hayden is reputed to be earning £50,000 a week at St James’ Park on his deal which runs until the summer of 2026.

But the Blues have seen a temporary deal agreed, with Mousinho is looking to add to both experience and physicality to the middle of the park for his side’s bid for survival this term - and the 29-year-old bringing both to the table.

The head coach has leaned heavily on Andre Dozzell and Freddie Potts centrally since switching Marlon Pack to the middle of his back line. Dozzell has settled well after a slow start while Potts has impressed, but is picking up his first game time on loan in the second tier after the West Ham man spent last season on loan with Wycombe in League One.

Owen Moxon and Abdoulaye Kamara are the other players to choose from in the middle currently, with Pompey about to get a boost in the shape of Hayden joining the group.

Mousinho said: ‘The two players, Doz and Pottsy, have done really well playing in there together.

‘Those two have played pretty much every game since we had the turnaround. I’d mark the Hull game as the start of the turnaround for the season, we’d only won one game previously.

‘When we’ve played poorly the two have of them have probably gone with the team, but they’ve also had some outstanding performances as well and been the heartbeat of the team.

‘Look at the Swansea game, in particular, I thought the two of them were outstanding. So there’s some positive things coming from them in the middle of the park.

‘We’ve got a fairly good balance in the middle of the park. We’ve got Marlon (Pack) in there with a lot of Championship games, though he’s playing centre-half now.

‘Freddie is relatively inexperienced at Championship level, but has played a lot of league games. ‘Doz has played a huge amount of this level and Mox (Moxon) not so much, but has come in and done well when called upon.

‘At the minute the balance is fine, but if the right player crops up and we think it’s the right thing to do then we’re going to look at doing it.’