Portsmouth boss John Mousinho agonising over ripping up transfer plans after 'massive' injury boost
The Blues have been buoyed after Conor Shaughnessy’s injury is not as bad as initially feared
John Mousinho is weighing up whether to rip up his Pompey transfer plans yet again after being handed a ‘massive’ Conor Shaughnessy boost.
Following Monday’s second opinion on the Irishman’s hip flexor injury, the central defender has now been ruled out for six weeks, with a potential return pencilled in against Hull on February 28.
The Blues had feared Shaughnessy would be ruled out for the season following initial scans on the injury sustained in the 1-0 victory at Sheffield Wednesday earlier this month.
With Josh Knight (back), Hayden Matthews (ankle) and Regan Poole (groin) also sidelined, Mousinho had previously been eyeing recruiting two centre-halves before the transfer window shuts on Monday.
However, buoyed by optimistic news about Shaughnessy, he is now mulling over whether just one new defensive signing is required.
‘I’m not too sure of the answer to that’
The Blues head coach told The News: ‘Whether we now need to sign two centre-halves is 50/50 for us at the moment.
‘When the news first broke, I was thinking okay, we’d probably need an extra one because we literally have one centre-half training with us at the minute (Ibane Bowat), who himself has had some issues in terms of injuries.
‘It’s tough because, at some point, we’re going to have Shocks back, we’re going to have Hayden back, we're going to have Josh Knight back, Regan’s going to be back as well, so we just have to balance that off.
‘We don’t want to be too heavy, but, at the same time, we’ve got games to win in the short-term. I think there’s a conversation to be had, I’m not sure of the answer to that.
‘It happens, you’ve got to be reactive as well as proactive. That’s why we have lists and lists for every single position because there are some positions we might think are completely locked off - then, all of a sudden, a few things pop up.
‘If you had asked me a month before the window opened, I probably would have said the only position we’re definitely looking to strengthen is left-back. Now I don’t think we need one. Things change very, very quickly.’
Regan Poole pencilled in for training return
Poole has yet to train this week and is to undergo a precautionary scan on the groin injury which kept him out of the starting XI against Southampton.
However, he is being pencilled in to train on Friday, with Mousinho to then evaluate the extent of his involvement in Saturday’s visit of West Brom.
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In the meantime, Bowat, who has been troubled by a back issue of late, is expected to be available, having managed 66 minutes in the south-coast derby.
‘This is a massive boost’
And despite Shaughnessy set to be sidelined for another four weeks, Mousinho is adamant that represents good news considering the alternative.
He added: ‘I thought Shocks could be out for the season, so this is a massive boost.
‘If it wasn’t the season, we were looking at 12 weeks, which may have got him to mid-April. But, at that point, by the time you’ve come back and are ready to play games, that’s a really tough ask.
‘Conor is actually okay, symptomatically he’s not feeling anywhere near like the scan reported, so having that second opinion was really useful.
‘I’m still going to be sceptical about it, though, but we just have to treat the player rather than the scan.’
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