'Really tough' - Portsmouth sporting director makes transfer admission but '3-4' signings on way
Pompey fans are waiting patiently for the Blues to show their hand again during the summer transfer window
Rich Hughes has admitted Pompey have had a ‘tough’ start to the summer transfer window.
The Blues sporting director confessed the Fratton Park club - in an ideal world - would have liked more players through the door at this stage in their pre-season programme, with attacking midfielder Adrian Segecic their only new arrival to date.
However, Hughes said he wasn’t getting disheartened by the situation. He insisted diligent work was continuing behind the scenes to bring in the right personnel for Pompey’s needs; he remained confident that the effort he and his recruitment team were putting in would bear fruit; and revealed there was light at the end of the tunnel, with 3-4 incomings currently being worked on.
Rich Hughes: It's been a really tough window for us at this point
Hughes shared his thoughts on Pompey’s transfer business to date with BBC Solent’s Andy Moon.
When asked how he would assess the Blues’ window so far, he responded: ‘Tough. It's been a really tough window for us at this point, but I think what we have to do is not assess where the rest of the Championship’s operated, but actually deals that we'd feel would better the football club.
‘I know we've been really pleased with bringing in Adrian, that's a good one for us, renewing (the contract of) Ben Killip. Obviously, we're aware - the same as everyone else we want to bring in players to the group, John spoke about that.
‘We're working really deliberately and really diligently behind the scenes to get that done. Would we have liked players in for pre-season? Absolutely yes. Do we become disheartened by it? Absolutely not. We keep moving, we keep moving forward, we keep trying to get deals done and we keep trying to make the squad as strong as it can be.’
He added: ‘Yeah it's really tough but we're not going to lose faith in what we do and we're going to stick to our way of operating and we'll see the benefits of that at the end of the window.’
‘3-4’ Pompey signings being worked on
Adrian Segecic completed his free transfer move to Pompey - with a nominal fee paid to Sydney FC as training compensation - on June 18.
More than three weeks have passed since that deal was struck, with the Blues also now back from their week-long training camp in Slovakia, which will have been used for team bonding purposes as well as fitness and technical training.
It’s also four weeks until John Mousinho takes his troops to Oxford United’s Kassam Stadium on the opening day of the season. But as focus begins to turn to that game, Hughes reassured fans that work was well down the line to ensure further squad strengthening would be in place by then.
He said: (There’s) 3 or 4 deals that we're working really hard on and we know there's a lot that we have to factor in.
‘We're hoping to have bodies through the door sooner rather than later. I know John wants to work with them, that's our hope and expectation as well.
‘We're trying to get those players in as quickly as we can so they have as long on the training pitch to get used to the group, get used to the coaching staff and have a long time to adapt before the season starts.’