'We are fine there': Portsmouth boss addresses why he doesn't want any more central defenders
The Blues currently have five contracted central defenders on their books
John Mousinho has ruled out dipping into the transfer market to strengthen the centre of defence.
With just under four weeks left before the window closes, the Blues remain intent on further bolstering their squad, with Spurs' Yang Min-hyeok close to being unveiled on a season-long loan.
However, according to the head coach, there are no plans to add to the five contracted centre-halves currently on their books - Regan Poole, Conor Shaughnessy, Hayden Matthews, Ibane Bowat and Tom McIntyre.
That influenced the decision not to offer a contract to Nathan Ferguson this week, having been trialling with Pompey since February and featuring four times in pre-season.
And, even should the Blues manage to offload McIntyre, Mousinho is convinced he has enough central defenders.
Portsmouth boss: ‘We are fine there’
He told The News: ‘We have five contracted centre-halves in the building at the moment, so we are fine there.
‘Even should Tom McIntyre leave, I don’t think that will change. We still have those four contracted centre-halves in the building.
‘We were monitoring that during the pre-season because, if you look at the four of them, all four had significant injury worries last year.
‘Regan was probably the only one that didn’t. The previous season he did his ACL, but he was still out for the start of last season.
‘It’s one of those that we’ve been wary of, but all four of those got through pre-season really well, so we are pretty happy with the state we are in.’
Poole and Shaughnessy will start at Oxford United
Poole and Shaughnessy are to start the season as Mousinho’s first-choice pairing and will line up at Oxford United on Saturday for the Championship opener.
Matthews has recovered strongly from the ankle ligament damage sustained against QPR in February and has since featured in all seven of the Blues’ pre-season friendlies.
In the case of Bowat, he returned to action against Reading last month, having been sidelined by a serious knee injury since September 2024 - sustained just 12 days after joining from Fulham.
The 22-year-old has since totalled three appearances during pre-season to convince Mousinho he has now recovered from his injury, despite still feeling a little pain in the same knee.
Finally, McIntyre returned to training this week having been sidelined by injury since returning from the Slovakian training camp last month.
As a consequence, he missed all seven of the Blues’ pre-season friendlies. Regardless, Pompey are keen to move him on after a disappointing 18 months at Fratton Park and haven’t handed him a squad number.
Even should McIntyre depart before the September 1 deadline for the transfer window, that would still leave Mousinho with four central defenders - a figure he is comfortable with.
‘We just wanted to monitor the situation with all of them’
He added: ‘When we set foot on the grass for the first time in pre-season, Ibane had never played for the football club, Hayden had played 6 times, Shocks played nine games last season.
‘Regan played the most out of the four last year, but that had come off the back of a serious knee injury. We just wanted to monitor that situation with all of them.’