Portsmouth chief promises to end 'over-reliance' on expensive loan players - and a fresh focus on permanent recruits

But the sporting director insists the Blues will not withdraw completely from the loan market.

According to club accounts released last week, Pompey’s spending on loanees increased by a staggering £738,000 for the year ending June 30, 2022.

A consequence of Danny Cowley’s favoured approach, those temporary signings included Tyler Walker, Miguel Azeez, Gavin Bazunu, George Hirst, Hayden Carter, Mahlon Romeo and Gassan Ahadme.

Loan costs are expected to increase even more this season, with a number of high-profile arrivals.

However, Hughes has made it clear that he and Pompey’s recruitment will now be focusing on permanent signings.

Hughes told The News: ‘Never fall in love with a loan player, that’s one of the wisest things I’ve been told in football. It creates a hole in the team, then you’re looking to replace them, which can be one of the tough things.

‘The biggest issue is they walk out the door at the end of the season. This summer alone we will probably have five loan players that will walk out the door and we’ll be looking for replacements, whether those are internal or external.

‘It creates an extra pressure on recruitment. We want to be in a scenario where we’re not having a huge turnover of players every year, but sometimes, if you’re overly reliant on loans, that can be a natural byproduct of that.

‘The amount spent on loans is an issue. We want to get away from spending a lot of money on loan players – and finding a way to make it a more financially viable part of the set-up.

‘There have also been lots of good loan players here and we’re looking for value for money in everything.

‘Whether that’s a senior player we expect to be playing 40 games and influencing us and making us perform better or whether it's a young player with resale value.

‘Or a loan player that probably gets a value under what would necessarily be considered the market value and helps us achieve what we are trying to do.

‘But absolutely we must reduce the reliance on loans. For the progression of the football club, we have to try to do that and safeguard the year after and the year after that.

‘We can’t have an over-reliance on it, but we know they can help us.’

This term, the Blues have brought in Josh Koroma, Dane Scarlett, Josh Griffths, Joe Pigott, Owen Dale, Di’Shon Bernard and Matt Macey.

And Hughes believes there is still a need for loan players.

He added: ‘There are two types of loans. There’s a loan with a view to potentially owning the player on a more permanent basis – and a loan that gives you outstanding ability and potentially a value you can’t get anywhere else.

‘But we’re not going to cut our nose off to spite our face and say we are not going to have loan players.

‘I wouldn’t put a number on the amount of loans for next year, what we want are people who will help us move forward and provide value for the football club.’