‘In an ideal world’: Portsmouth boss makes intriguing transfer admission after Josh Murphy injury blow
It’s expected to be a frenetic conclusion to the transfer window for Pompey.
John Mousinho would still like to recruit a winger before the transfer window slams shut following Josh Murphy’s injury setback.
But the Pompey boss believes bringing in a new wide man currently proves difficult with the Blues’ squad space, with the head coach still hopeful of signing a flexible attacker before the 11pm deadline.
It’s gearing up to be a frenetic end to the summer market at Fratton Park, with Mousinho looking to bolster his arsenal.
The winger is now expected to miss eight weeks of action, which will see him return after the three week international break in October, and also joins fellow wide men Keshi Anderson and Franco Umeh as long-term absentees.
Pompey are already attempting to recruit a versatile attacker before this evening’s deadline following Thomas Waddingham’s injury setback last month.
And although Mousinho would like to recruit another wide player, squad space is likely to become an issue, with the head coach also attempting to trim his ranks before the deadline.
Instead, the Pompey boss is currently prioritising a flexible option who can cover across the front-line before the close of play.
Pompey boss’ transfer admission after Josh Murphy injury blow
When asked whether Murphy’s injury blow affects the Blues’ late-window transfer plans, Mousinho told The News: ‘Yeah it definitely does.
‘I think if we had a fully fit Josh (Murphy) and a full fit Keshi (Anderson), we’d be probably having a couple of different conversations but I do think that changes things.
‘The difficulty is squad space here. In an ideal world without anything to do with budgets, you’d probably go for both a flexible attacker and maybe an extra winger. But I’m not sure that’s going to be a possibility.
‘Maybe that flexibility of someone who can play across the front-line helps out and gives us that cover.
‘At the minute in terms of where we are across the front-line I think we are a little bit short and probably a little bit reliant on a couple of the younger lads, who have done brilliantly well but that consistency over the season might not be there.
‘What we want to do is avoid where we probably have been. A really good example might be the first Championship season with Josh when he was fit we played him every minute of every game.
‘I don’t think that did him many favours and I don’t think you will find many wingers that will have that capability of doing that and Josh did it and got through it.
‘What would we like? We would like a lot more of a balance where we could do a 60/30 here and there. We did it with Ryan (Kavuma-McQueen) and Harvey (Blair) at the weekend.
‘I didn’t think we were in a position to do that with Abu (Kamara) because of the other substitutions we had to make, whether that tactical or Marlon (Pack) coming back from injury forced our hand a little bit.
‘That would be a nice position to get to eventually.’