'Shapes up terribly' - Critical factor already identified if Portsmouth's relegated from Championship
Pompey’s summer recruitment will be a good starting part for any end-of-season inquest if Blues are relegated
‘It’s really looking a dreadful window’.
That’s the honest verdict that’s been delivered on Pompey’s 2025 summer recruitment drive, which saw the Blues sign 11 new players for the club’s second season back in the Championship.
And according to The News’ Jordan Cross, there’s every possbility it will be a critical factor in any end-of-season inquest if John Mousinho’s side end up being relegated back to League One.
Pompey still have eight games left to avoid that scenario. Their Championship future also remains in their own hands as they sit a point above the drop zone with one less game played than their rivals.
However, their situation hasn’t been helped by a transfer process that has so far offered so little as the season’s progressed.
Three of Pompey’s new recruits cost in access of £1m - Mark Kosznovsky, Luke Le Roux and Josh Knight. The high-profile arrivals of John Swift (free transfer) and Conor Chaplin (loan) where meant to provide valuable Championship experience. Meanwhile, the signings of Franco Umeh, Makenzie Kirk and Minyheok Yang (loan) were supposed to give the Blues an exciting youthful exuberance that would boost the finely-crafted squad assembled.
However, only two of last summer’s signings can really be considered value for money - Adrian Segečić and back-up keeper Josef Bursik. And you’ll find it difficult to find anyone who disagrees that Florian Bianchini’s loan from Swansea has been a disaster.
Pompey fans remain in the dark if the injured forward will play for the club again as they approach the crucial run-in to the season. The last of the Frenchman’s 11 appearances came in the 3-0 defeat to Sheffield United in November.
They will also remain unsure if the Blues have enough to stay in the Championship. If they don’t, then they won’t have too far to look for what went wrong, according to Cross.
‘Woefully below the level’
Pompey’s summer recruitment was brought up following the publication of Cross’ player ratings from the Blues’ season to date. Only Segečić received a score of seven or more, leaving The News’ Blues writer to compare the window to the January window of 2019.
Back then, Bryn Morris, Omar Bogle, Viv Soloman-Otabor and James Vaughan were among those brought in to deliver promotion back to the Championship for Kenny Jackett’s then league leaders.
However, the Blues threw away their five-point advantage of the top of the table over the second half of the season to eventually finish fourth and be beaten by Sunderland in the play-off semi-finals.
Speaking in the latest episode of Pompey Talk, Cross said: ‘It's not until you go through the ratings that it really hits home how dreadful those (summer) signings are shaping up now.
‘Segečić, you can argue, goes down as a success, and then you have your back-up keeper in Josef Bursik. They're the ones that you can actually argue have been hits
‘I then just went through the list, and it was just like, blimey, this might go down as like the nightmare Pompey recruitment window of years gone, seven years ago, when it was Bryn Morris, Lloyd Isgrove, Omar Bogle, and Viv Solomon-Ottobor, James Vaughan.
‘Andy Cannon, was probably a slight success, but that was like the horror window of recent memories, that January.
‘And you look at the summer, and it's looking comparable at the moment.
‘It really is looking like a dreadful window. Chaplin, Kosznovszky, Le Roux, Josh Knight. These million-pound players... I know it's not big bucks, but those £1m players, I've given low ratings. Le Roux, by the way, is a happy-go-lucky chap, but he just looks dreadfully, woefully short of the level.
‘And then, you have Florian Bianchini. What's happened there? He's just, woefully, woefully below the level.
‘So, yeah, it really shapes up terribly, that window at the moment, and just hope that we're not here reflecting in a couple of months on that being a critical factor in Pompey getting relegated.’