Portsmouth boss gives key update on players soon to be out of contract

Kenny Jackett admitted negotiations with players whose deals expire at the season’s end won’t take place until the Covid-19 outbreak is over.

Eight members of the Blues’ squad will see their contracts end on June 30 - including fans’ favourite Christian Burgess, Lee Brown, Brett Pitman and Oli Hawkins.

Pompey had tabled a deal to Burgess, while they have the option for an additional year with Brown that’s likely to be taken up.

However, talks have been placed on the backburner as Jackett doesn’t feel it's the right time to discuss individuals’ terms.

The Blues boss said: ‘We have to look at the bigger picture and the overall situation rather than individual contracts.

‘We have been very stable in terms of the finances of a club, but there's no doubt the financial picture will look different when we come out of the other side of this.

‘It will for the whole of football and every club and I have confidence that ours will be very solid.

‘But when you’re talking about individual situations, it's such an unprecedented situation that we have to come out the other side and then assess the implications of the individual contracts.

‘If this season is playing on then we’ll want to keep the group together as much as we can, obviously.

‘There will be more clubs with players out of contract and loanees than us.

‘For each situation, we have to wait and see first when we resume and then secondly what the landscape looks like financially because that is where it is going to affect individuals.’