John Swift, Alex Robertson and Rob Atkinson: Your Portsmouth transfer questions answered
Good afternoon, Pompey fans. The sun is shining, the transfer window has reopened and the Blues have a new face in the building. So far, so good for the summer recruitment, but there’s a long way to go, plenty of twists and turns ahead and many unanswered questions. So we’re answering your transfer window questions - and hopefully offering a little Pompey insight along the way.
With three right-backs all vying to start (Williams, Swanson and Devlin) do you think we could see one leave in this transfer window, either on loan or permanently? @BradleyHide
A: Hi Bradley, a perfectly reasonable squad question to kick things off given the 25-man squad restrictions in the Championship (which we’ll return to later). With John Mousinho’s ideal having two players in every position Pompey could look top-heavy at right-back, but I don’t see any of these players leaving temporarily or otherwise next season.
Jordan Williams was recruited last year as the front-line option in that department, but had his injury issues last term and that places a little bit of a question mark on his ability to stay fit going into next term.
Zak Swanson, meanwhile, has answered those similar questions in the 2024-25 campaign, proved to be the most preferred option in that position and showed himself to be a capable Championship performer.
Then Terry Devlin, even if he’s now primarily a right-back consideration, is still a versatile option - as the popular chant will testify! - and has signed a new deal. I just think taking everything in the round with what I’ve outlined above means these three will all stay put next term.
Is there any indication on what the budget is to spend on players?@Captain_Outram
Straight in with the thorny issue of playing budgets, I see! What we do know is John Mousinho confirmed back in April the playing budget is going up next season, in terms of covering wages. Further to that we are now seeing an increase in fees for the right players, with Mousinho confirming Pompey can ‘push on’ from the £1.27m paid for Hayden Matthews in January.
The Blues boss referenced the £4.5m paid for Abu Kamara as still being beyond his club, but I’d say it would be reasonable to think fees in the region of £2m-plus would be available for the right players. In terms of the increase to the playing budget I think it would be fair to place it in millions.
Will the club look at any Sheffield Wednesday players? I always think Patterson is an excellent back up for Bishop? @rik_may
Hi Rik, football’s a brutal business isn’t it! But the reality is any club will look for opportunities through the misfortune (or shambolic ownership) of others. Through unpaid wages, Sheffield Wednesday are now under a transfer embargo and can’t pay a fee for a player until at least January 2027. They also cannot give players contracts longer than a year or pay more than £7,000 a week, according to our sister title the Sheffield Star.
What that means for the out-of-contact players like Barry Bannan, Callum Paterson and Akin Famewo remains to be seen, but they are the obvious players to focus on.
It’s our understanding there’s nothing in the Jamal Lowe talk, which is no great surprise, with the other obvious player to consider Di’Shon Bernard. Pompey, of course, looked to sign the centre-back permanently in 2023 after his loan before instead turning their attention to Regan Poole - and are in the market for a player in his position.
When is the cut off for ‘under-21’? Segecic only turned 21 in June so does he count as under-21? Is it done by calendar year or by season? @Thomas_2791
Hi Thomas, hope you’re well. The EFL handbook tells us an under-21 player ‘means a player under the age of 21 as at the 1 January in the year in which the season concerned commences.’ For guidance, the example of the 2025-26 season is someone born on or after January 1, 2004
So with Adrian Segecic born on June 1, 2004 he’s born after the cut-off point to be considered an under-21 player for the 2025-26 season - being 20 years seven months on January 1 this year. That would mean he wouldn’t take up one of Pompey’s 25-man squad places which, I’m presuming, is the reason you ask!
Any truth behind the Abu Kamara rumours? @ryanstray1996
Percentage chance we sign Abu Kamara? @PFCperspectives
This one has caused a little bit of amusement over the manner in which it has been regurgitated. So last week I wrote, as I know to to be the case, Pompey still admire Abu Kamara and haven’t given up hope of ‘one day wearing royal blue again’.
This was a line echoed by the Hull Daily Mail a few days later, which was entirely reasonable. From there, however, the Kamara to Pompey noise has taken on a life of its own through various other football websites, such is the way of sports journalism these days!
I’m sure if Hull were prepared to take a hit of a couple of million on the player they signed for £4.5m less than a year ago, it would be something the Blues would give serious attention to. I’m also fairly sure that doesn’t represent very good business, even for a side who, shall we say, haven’t been the smartest operators under owner Acun Icali.
So, without putting an exact percentage on it, I’d put the chances of Abu’s return at this stage as low.
Likelihood of returns for: Rob Atkinson, Abu Kamara, Alex Robertson, Ben Thompson. @JoeSmith141414
Hi Joe, the picture over Rob Atkinson moved on yesterday with Gerhard Struber announced as the new Bristol City head coach.
With Rob Edwards touted for the job, and close with Rich Hughes from their time at Forest Green, I wrote yesterday that would likely have been the preferable appointment for Pompey - certainly in quickly finding clarity over the situation. That’s not to say anything is clearer on what the Austrian’s plans are for Atkinson, which some people seem to misconstrue my story was saying.
What we can see is from Struber’s past at FC Cologne, RB Salzburg and New York Red Bulls is a mix of playing a back three and back four. Last season at Cologne it was mainly a back three before switching to back four, it was mainly a back four at Salzburg and a mix of the two at New York.
In theory, going with a four would potentially free up a central defender and Bristol City do have Zak Vyner, Luke McNally, Rob Dickie and George Tanner. Atkinson has needed to be diplomatic about his future but would come to Pompey in a heartbeat. I’d still be quietly hopeful.
Alex Robertson is an interesting one, too, isn’t it? Cardiff City have been relegated and I don’t think many people can see him wanting to be operating in League One next season. There’s also an established connection with his representatives who also did deals with Pompey over Jacob Farrell and Adrian Segecic. One to keep an eye on methinks.
Abu I covered in the previous answer and Ben Thompson, well, I can see him being linked with the Blues when he’s 50!
How much did we get for Saydee? @W4360311523357
Yesterday was a sad day as he waved goodbye to Christian, who was undoubtedly one of the most popular players at Pompey in recent seasons. It’s a deal which was right for all parties, though, with my colleague Neil Allen yesterday reporting the Blues made a profit on the £90,000 paid to Bournemouth in 2023.
Saydee had a year left on his contract though and, without having the exact details over a fee at at this stage, I daresay it was low six figures.
Any update on the John Swift rumours? Rupert Harris
The John Swift rumours aren’t going away, normally we come out and dismiss rumours. This one hasn’t been and he has stated he wants to come home. Do you think this one is very likely now? @BriscoeRyan1989
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And a nice John Swift update to round things off! Yes as you say Ryan, John would be keen to come back to Pompey as I reported last week and has a fair amount of interest from the Championship and abroad.
From what I can gather there has been some discussions, but I wouldn’t go too much further than that at this stage and, last I heard, things hadn’t developed into a concrete offer.
From Pompey’s point of view I guess they would have to be very careful what they theoretically offered in terms of wages, with John coming off a fairly lucrative deal at West Brom - though he’s realistic about his earning power now.
I just get the feeling that with the club looking abroad, they’d be more likely to spend fees on players from the continent who offer better value in wages. John is one I’m staying across, though, and I’ll keep you updated.
That concludes today’s Q&A, apologies to those who put in questions I didn’t get to. I’ll perhaps look to do one next week with some further updates.
Play up Pompey!
Jordan