In the summer of 2025, following survival in the Championship with two matches to spare, the Blues sought to strengthen their playing squad.
Overseen by sporting director Rich Hughes and head of recruitment Brad Wall, Pompey signed 11 players, paying transfer fees for seven of them.
Barely more than 12 months later, only Adrian Segecic can claim to be a first-team regular for John Mousinho.
Here we look at those 11 recruits in the 2025 summer transfer window and what has become of them...
5. Luke Le Roux (17 games, 0 goals)
It has never been clear how much Pompey paid IFL Varnamo for the South African international in July 2025, with some foreign media claiming the deal was worth £1.1m. Still, he became a free agent just 13 months later when his contract was cancelled by mutual consent, with two years still remaining. Earmarked as competition for Marlon Pack in the number six role, it never turned out that way as Le Roux totalled 17 appearances, despite never being injured. Then, just eight days after his Fratton Park departure, he signed for Belgium top-flight side Cercle Brugge side on a two-year deal. | Jason Brown
6. Florian Bianchini (11 games, 0 goals)
Will be regarded as one of Pompey’s worst loan signings of modern times, failing to register a single assist or goal during his season-long stay. The winger never made another appearance after November 2025, albeit an absence not purely down to selection preference, with an ongoing knee issue also pivotal. Pompey couldn’t even offload the former £2m man back to Swansea in January as there was no option to sever his stay at the mid-way point. Certainly Swansea didn’t want him back. After returning to the Swans at the end of the loan, on transfer deadline day he departed for Ligue 2 club Clermont Foot 63 on a season-long arrangement.
7. Minhyeok Yang (16 games, 3 goals)
Much was anticipated of the Spurs teenager upon his arrival on a season-long loan, having previously featured at QPR in the Championship. It took until the end of September 2025 to be granted a first-team run, subsequently netting in successive games against Watford and Middlesbrough at Fratton Park. However, following the dismal 4-0 defeat at Birmingham, the South Korean international started just twice more. There was the highlight of a 98th-minute winner against Charlton - in what would prove to be his final game - and, by January, Spurs had cut short his loan. Instead Minhyeok moved on loan to Coventry and totalled just 29 minutes of league football as they won the Championship.
8. Josh Knight (15 games, 0 goals)
With Pompey keen to bolster a centre-half position which had been devastated by injury in 2024-25, they brought Josh Knight back to England from Hannover 96. Paying £1m to land the former Peterborough man, within a month he found himself as a first-team regular following Conor Shaughnessy’s hamstring injury against Sheffield Wednesday. Knight would start 10 of the next 12 matches, struggling to convince, although it would be a back fracture which would force him out of the team at the end of November 2025 following a 1-0 home defeat to Bristol City. He missed the remainder of the season and, despite a four-minute cameo off the bench at Lincoln last month, the centre-half was loaned to Reading for the campaign. However, five games in, he has still to make a squad for the League One club, with manager Leam Richardson claiming Knight’s fitness needed to be brought up to speed. | Jason Brown