Portsmouth boss pinpoints key moment in transfer window as recruitment charge continues

The Blues boss believes the next stage of his club’s recruitment work will soon start to gather pace, ahead of their Championship return.

Mousinho has reported signs of activity going on behind the scenes, when it comes to Pompey adding to their five signings to date.

A strong pace was set with Jordan Williams’ arrival on the first day of the summer window followed by four further additions, in the shape of Josh Murphy, Jordan Archer, Reuben Swann and Sammy Silvera.

There’s been a 10-day period of quiet, since the loan agreement with Middlesbrough for Silvera was sealed at the start of last week.

Mousinho thinks that will likely continue for a while, before quickening up once the pre-season games are underway.

He said: ‘We’ve had a couple of recruitment calls, but my focus has largely been on the pitch.

‘That’s been the way over the past couple of weeks since we’ve been back in.

‘There’s plenty going on and I’m expecting there to be more movement towards the back end of next week, or start of the week after that.

‘That’s because teams are getting back into pre-season this week and settling down.

‘Managers will want to look at players, so nothing is hugely moving at the moment.

‘So we’re staying patient, keeping an eye on the targets and the ones we want.’

Sporting director Rich Hughes is among the football operation staff overseeing events in Croatia this week, as he leads the way on Pompey’s recruitment.

Mousinho feels having the former Forest Green man present has proved helpful when it comes to the transfer lines of communication.

He added: ‘Rich being out here is really useful for the two of us, because we don’t have to do Zoom calls or be on the phone. We can just catch up every afternoon, it’s a really useful part of it.

‘Everyone out here has seen Rich on the phone an awful lot - so it’s really good to know that he’s busy.’