Portsmouth boss’ key transfer update and revealing insight over targets at window’s climax
The Pompey boss provides an important transfer window update today with five days left of the January window.
John Mousinho has revealed Pompey’s key transfer window targets remain in their sights.
The Blues boss has confirmed the club have not yet missed out on their recruitment priorities, as January trading reaches its climax.
Pompey boss: ‘Targets either haven’t moved - or may not move’
Mousinho explained it’s still a case of convincing clubs to part company with their assets, at a critical moment in negotiations ahead of Monday’s deadline.
The Pompey head coach is hopeful of potentially adding to his squad, ahead of Saturday’s Championship clash with West Brom at Fratton Park.
Sheffield Wednesday’s Svante Ingelsson is a midfield target, with a bid knocked back for the 27-year-old who is also being pursued by Millwall and Derby.
Dundee’s Luke Graham is still being pursued to strengthen the middle defence, though the SPL side are currently not budging on letting the centre-back depart amid defensive injury issues.
Whether the Blues can change that stance before 7pm on Monday remains to be seen, with Graham valued north of £1m and also linked with the likes of QPR and Sheffield United.
A striker is also being sought, with some flexible possibilities in other areas of the pitch for Pompey before the window closes.
Mousinho told The News how things stand over the deals they’re looking to complete.
He said: ‘At the minute our targets either haven’t moved, or may not move. That’s where we are with our targets - we’re waiting on the parent clubs.’
With just five days of the transfer window remaining, Mousinho gave an insight into his mood when it comes to completing the deal so crucial to hopes of Championship survival.
And there was a calm tone to the Pompey boss’ words, though he acknowledged there plenty of distance to travel in the battle to complete deals.
Mousinho: ‘We’re pretty happy with where we are’
Mousinho said: ‘I feel pretty relaxed about things, because there’s still a lot of time.
‘I think we’ve shown when we bring in players and get it right they have an impact.
‘We’ve passed on maybe 20 players so far who were realistic, we could have done and could’ve come in.
‘If we want to bring in players for the short term, first of all they have to make an impact between now and May.
‘If we’re bringing in players on longer contracts, like Ebou (Adams) and Keshi (Anderson) we have to make sure they can impact things in the slightly longer term as well.
‘We’re pretty happy with where we are as we tick into the final days, but there’s plenty of work to do and plenty of bodies to bring into the building.
‘Nothing’s really moved so far where we’ve thought we’ve missed out.’