‘Will never be forced into sale’: Portsmouth’s hard-line stance over Callum Lang after ‘record-breaking’ Preston North End transfer
More details over Callum Lang’s Preston North End exit, with Pompey making their position clear after the former Wigan Athletic handed in a transfer request.
Callum Lang’s desire to leave Pompey was a significant factor in his departure for Preston North End.
But John Mousinho made it clear the Blues were never going to be forced into parting company with the Scouser, as he made his intentions clear to move to Deepdale.
Mousinho: ‘We were never going to be forced into a sale’
And the head coach stated Lang’s record-breaking switch to the Lilywhites only became viable, when it was a ‘good decision’ for his club.
The League One champion concluded his return to the north west on Monday evening, as the toing and froing through the January window resulted in an agreement between the two clubs.
That took place after Lang handed in a transfer request late in proceedings, in an apparent effort to push through a transfer.
Mousinho made it abundantly clear, however, Pompey were never going sanction a sale until they were happy with the conditions of the agreement.
Pompey boss: ‘Callum made it pretty clear he wanted to move’
He said: ‘We’d made the decision as a football club, based on everything which was put in front of us, and said if the valuation was met it would be a consideration.
‘Callum had made it pretty clear he wanted to move.
‘That was something we had to take into consideration, but to reiterate we were never going to be forced into a sale.
‘I’d be embarrassed if I’d sat here and said he’s absolutely not for sale, then we were forced into the sale. It was never the case.
‘It (the money) is good, but the important thing for us isn’t necessarily the money.
‘We don’t need the money to spend on players, infrastructure or keep us afloat, but you still have to be wise if you set a valuation on a player.
‘We’ve spoken about it through the window, and the questions were asked about Callum Lang earlier in the window.
‘You can see from my responses, I was asked about someone like Terry (Devlin) and I felt I was good to my word: Terry just wasn’t for sale. I didn’t say the same about Callum, because we’d made a decision to entertain offers.
‘We were always willing to look at offers and when we had the offer, with the information around it, Callum’s willingness to play for the club and where he wanted to go, it seemed a good decision.
‘We won’t be swayed by anything external, though. We will do the right business at the right time, keep as many players as we want and do what we want to do.
‘Every decision we make, we will take all the internal and external factors into consideration. We think we made the right decision for the football club - and will move on from there.’
Another factor in Lang’s exit was a lack of progress in talks over a new deal last year, with his existing agreement ending this summer - albeit Pompey having a 12-month option in their favour.
Mousinho acknowledged that was part of the overall considerations when agreeing to the 27-year-old moving, but not a dominant issue.
He added: ‘I don’t think the contract situation particularly came into it too much.
‘There was no issue (with Lang not signing a new deal). We spoke to Callum about a new contract, when there was some initial interest from Preston.
‘It was something he didn’t want to explore, which was fine and we moved on. We shook hands on it.
‘There was six months to run and an option so we felt we were really protected, but it was something we took into account based on all the information we had in January.’