Portsmouth transfer chief confident he has the money to bolster Blues' Championship survival bid in January
It’s expected to be a busy month in the transfer window for Pompey.
Rich Hughes said his latest recruitment drive will be backed financially by owners Tornante during the January transfer window.
And the Pompey sporting director added the aim is to bolster John Mousinho’s playing ranks at the earliest opportunity, with work well under way to strenghten the Blues’ first-team ranks.
It’s expected to be a busy month at PO4, with Pompey hoping to strengthen in a bid to register a much-improved second half of the season.
Pompey, of course, sit just one point and one place above the Championship relegation zone, having picked up 25 points from their opening 24 games this term.
Pompey to be backed in January window
Mousinho’s men were backed financially in the summer window, with the likes of Luke Le Roux, Mark Kosznovszky and Josh Knight all arriving for around £1m , while Tornante agreed to increase the budget to land Conor Chaplin on loan from Ipswich Town on deadline day.
And despite the Blues’ precarious position in the current league standings, Hughes has revealed positive conversations have been had with the board at Fratton Park which support his bid to upgrade the first team.
The Pompey sporting director told BBC Radio Solent: ‘Every conversation we’ve had with the board has been really positive.
‘They’ve always been willing to have the conversations about what needs to be done for the football club, specifically with transfers.
‘We’re confident that we are going to be able to affect the group and again we’ll be backed by the board to do so.’
Planning behind the scenes at Fratton
It’s been a tough first half of the season on the south coast, with Mousinho’s men winning just six of their 24 games to date.
Incomings and outgoings are both expected throughout the coming month to strengthen the squad ahead of the highly-important run-in.
And after being given the financial backing by owners Tornante, Hughes has lifted the lid on the transfer preparations which have already taken place prior to the window’s opening.
‘We’ve had a lot of conversations internally throughout the month of November and December about where we want to go.
‘And then we’ve sort of started the back-end of December off being very proactive, speaking to a lot of clubs and a lot of players.
‘(We’re) Just trying to work as diligently as we can and as sensibly as we can but also try and get players in the door as early as possible to affect as many of the January games as we can.’