Portsmouth boss reveals scenario over players leaving before transfer window’s close

The Blues head coach feels his squad doesn’t have the depth to be able to deal with losing further bodies.

Pompey are looking to be busy in the transfer market before Tuesday night’s 11pm deadline, with a central defender and attacking pace sought.

But Mousinho doesn’t envisage anything happening in the other direction at present.

When asked if he thinks any players will leave, the Pompey boss said: ‘Not at the moment, no.

‘Things could change in the next two ot three days, but myself and Rich had a chat before the game about the current state of the squad.

‘So as it stands now, we don’t anticipate any outgoings.’

Mousinho explained it’s the size of his squad which is influencing his thinking when it comes to letting players go.

With Joe Rafferty, Jayden Reid, Jay Mingi, Tom Lowery, Clark Robertson and Ronan Curtis all sidelined at present, a lack of depth is being exposed.

Teenager Harry Jewitt-White made his Pompey debut at Peterborough on Saturday, with the Hayling Island lad not looking out of depth in his late cameo.

But Mousinho feels the lack of numbers is apparent, making the prospect of departures unappealing.

He added: ‘As soon as we pick up a couple of injuries like we did this week (there’s no cover).

‘We travelled with 18 today and Harry has come along and done brilliantly well, but one more injury and we haven’t got anyone else.

‘So that’s a numbers issue we have to contend with, so it wouldn’t be prudent for us to let anyone go at this stage.’