Full cost of Portsmouth's Championship transfer dealings revealed in latest accounts
The Blues recruited 12 players for undisclosed fees in the year ending June 30, 2025
Pompey spent £4m on players in the last financial year to equip themselves for Championship football, according to latest accounts.
The majority of those fees involved the recruitment of Hayden Matthews, Nicolas Schmid, Elias Sorensen and Jacob Farrell as John Mousinho’s men finished in an encouraging 16th position in 2024-25.
Although the subsequent departure of Sorensen to Valerenga in January 2025 contributed towards £620,000 made in player sales by the Blues.
During that period, the club reported undisclosed transfer fees for 12 players, with others including Adrian Segecic, Reuben Swann, Abdoulaye Kamara, Harvey Blair, Ibane Bowat, Thomas Waddingham, Cohen Bramall and Ben Killip.
The cashflow statement details that a total of £4.64m was outlaid for the 12 players over those 12 months, although the overall figure includes agent fees.
The most expensive purchase is believed to be Matthews, who was recruited from Sydney FC for a fee of around £1.26m in January 2025.
The signings of Mark Kosznovszky, Luke Le Roux, Josh Knight, Josef Bursik, Makenzie Kirk, Franco Umeh arrived after June 30, 2025. Their costs will be included in the next set of accounts.
Six players sold
In terms of player sales, Pompey disposed player registrations to the value of £1.04m during the 12-month period.
However, taking into consideration agent fees and payment schedules, the accounts reflect that the Blues have pocketed around £620,000 in cash following the departure of six players for transfer fees.
That includes the sale of highly-promising Academy pair Xander Grieves (Wolves) and CJ Afumuzor (Newcastle) in the summer of 2024, in addition to Elias Sorensen’s short-lived stay.
While League One title winners Jack Sparkes (Peterborough), Owen Moxon (Stockport) and Christian Saydee (Wigan) also departed during that 12-month duration.
Latest accounts, however, do not include the sales of Ryley Towler to Lincoln and Paddy Lane to Reading in July 2025. Both will appear in next year’s financial results.
£1.93m spent on loan player wages
The total wage outlay for seven loanees during the 2024-25 season was £1.93m. These included Freddie Potts (West Ham), Mark O’Mahony (Brighton), Isaac Hayden (Newcastle) and Kaide Gordon (Liverpool), with the four having Premier League parent clubs.
The others were Sammy Silvera (Middlesbrough), Rob Atkinson (Bristol City) and Adil Aouchiche (Sunderland).
In comparison, during Pompey’s League One title-winning season, the cost of their four loan players was £408,000. These were Abu Kamara (Norwich), Alex Robertson (Manchester City), Tino Anjorin (Chelsea) and Myles Peart-Harris (Brentford).
Finally, the number of players on Pompey’s books rose by 10 to 57 following promotion to the Championship. With office and football management increasing by one to 84, the total of staff reached 141, representing a rise of 8.5 per cent.
Overall, wage costs, consisting of 141 employees and 176 casual staff, rose by £6.85m to £17.42m for the 2024-25 season in the Championship. However, those payroll figures do not include loan players.
Pompey posted losses of £4.3m for the year ending June 30, 2025, compared to a £5.6m deficit the previous year.
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