Portsmouth boss eyeing transfer budget boost as pair near Fratton exit - with Exeter, Crawley, Burton, Mansfield, Hull and Tranmere linked

Marcus Harness joined Ipswich on Friday for an undisclosed fee which had initially been earmarked to capture Colby Bishop.

Now Alex Bass and Kieron Freeman are in talks over transfers elsewhere, with both absent from last night’s 5-2 friendly win at Leyton Orient.

As previously reported by The News, Bass has interested Crawley and Exeter, while the likes of Burton, Tranmere, Mansfield, Swindon and Hull have eyed Freeman this summer.

According to Cowley, their potential exits would be permanent and fetch fees – which can be reinvested into his playing squad.

He told The News: ‘I believe they (Bass and Freeman) are in talks with other clubs. They are permanent moves and involve fees.

‘We saw the benefit of selling Marcus Harness and it all adds up.

‘The owners will let us reinvest it and have been brilliant in that respect, we are really appreciative of their generosity.

‘It gives you much more flexibility, whereas if you don’t have money then you are basically using free transfers and loans. When you do have money, you definitely have much more scope.

‘It’s very hard to find players that are young and good enough to play for Pompey on free transfers.

‘Any players that are young enough to play for Pompey on free transfers come from the Premier League or a Championship club on huge wages, so it will definitely give us more freedom.’

During the close season, Pompey have paid Arsenal an undisclosed fee to capture Zak Swanson.

Of their other summer recruits, Joe Pigott and Josh Griffiths are on loan, while Marlon Pack, Joe Rafferty and Josh Oluwayemi arrived on free transfers.

In the case of Harness, he was purchased from Burton for around £750,000 in the summer of 2019.

Entering the final year of his contract, Pompey have not revealed the figure received following his exit three seasons later.

Cowley added: ‘We always anticipated that Marcus would go this summer. Naturally we did the necessary work to cover every eventuality, so were able to move quite quickly.

‘While pleased with the business that we did with Marcus, we were sad to see him go because he’s an excellent player and when you’re getting better (as a team) you never want to lose your best players, that’s just a fact.

‘But it made complete business sense – now we have to make sure we reinvest that money, really intelligently.’