Rich Hughes details Portsmouth's 'busy' January transfer plans amid growing relegation concerns

Rich Hughes has pledged a ‘busy’ January transfer window as Pompey plot their Championship survival.

Along with head of recruitment Brad Wall, the sporting director is challenged with strengthening a Blues side which plunged into the relegation zone following Saturday’s Bristol City defeat.

With two wins in their last 14 matches, John Mousinho’s men have been sucked into a battle for their Championship lives after a solid start to the campaign.

The Fratton faithful are hoping the January window will ride to their rescue, reopening on Thursday, January 1, before closing at 7pm on Monday, February 2.

And with many of the Blues’ summer signings struggling to shine, the pressure is on Hughes to recruit quality performers to fire Pompey up the league.

Portsmouth chief: We will be as busy as we can be

He told The News: ‘The January window is always busy. There may be something we don’t anticipate, there will be different scenarios of what may become available.

‘Going into January last year, we were tracking three centre-backs. One got into his team, one didn’t move in the end, and we were able to get Rob Atkinson, who was at the top of the list. So you have to follow as many different leads as possible.

‘We will be as busy as we can be if we can make ourselves better. That sounds cliched and an overused phrase, but if opportunities allow us to bolster the group and improve the depth of it, we will always try to make those decisions and make that case to do so.

‘We have seven games before the window opens and is active - and that could be a big part of the season, a lot can change.

‘I remember just before Connor Ogilvie got injured, one of the conversations we had with John was that left-back wasn’t a position we were looking at. You get an injury all of a sudden and you have to pivot with that, that is part of the thinking.

‘We will plan for some of the more obvious eventualities, we’ll always want to try to affect the top end of the pitch. You look at goals scored (this season), we’ll try to find someone to change that. That will always be a priority, we’re always looking at strengthening every position, that’s the honest truth.

‘We have some targets, a lot of work has involved going to a lot of games, so it’s staying proactive for what we need to do - then reactive if anything pops up between now and then.’

Long-awaited injury returns

Pompey have recently been buoyed by the returns of Nicolas Schmid, Callum Lang and Adrian Segecic from injury.

However, despite their eagerly-awaited comebacks coinciding with a much-needed 3-1 triumph over Millwill, there have since been successive defeats for Mousinho’s side.

That culminated with Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Bristol City, an outcome which saw Pompey drop into the Championship’s relegation zone for the first time since mid-January.

Hughes: ‘It was a nice shot in the arm for everyone’

Hughes added: It was a nice shot in the arm for everyone to get Nico, Langy and Segs back, that was big for us, three big players. The way the group has been put together, you always want your best players available.

‘We like the strength in depth, but we also want a fully-fit squad to allow us to maximize it and give John the opportunity to have a bit of squad rotation and keep players fresh.

‘The big thing is being able to affect games off the bench as well, that’s really important as a coach and what hopefully will allow us to keep kicking on and making progress.’

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