Portsmouth boss John Mousinho's tantalising transfer admission as Blues braced for two new signings
The Blues have recruited three players so far this summer
John Mousinho is confident Pompey will announce two new signings at the start of the week.
And he insists the identity of the pair of newcomers won’t be a ‘huge surprise’ to the Fratton faithful.
Speaking after the 1-1 draw at Bristol Rovers in their latest friendly, the Blues boss was keeping tight-lipped over the exact names of the incoming duo.
However, The News understands they are Marko Milovanovic and Daniel Bielica, who have been repeatedly linked with a Fratton Park move.
And, according to Mousinho, it appears two transfer hunts are about to reach a very satisfactory conclusion.
He told The News: ‘We are very close on two, I would be very surprised if, by the time I speak to you next - if we have a press conference on Wednesday - we don’t have a couple.
‘These ones are close, they are complicated, there is a lot of crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s. They are much more complex than maybe to sign an Odin Bailey on a free because of all the paperwork involved and agents involved, as we’ve spoken about before.
‘It gives you a clue! I have no idea if it’s a striker. A goalkeeper? Again I don’t know!
‘I think you guys have a pretty good finger on the pulse in terms of where we are and I don’t think that it will be a huge surprise when we hopefully announce the players on Monday or Tuesday.’
Pompey’s latest signing Rocco Shein made his first appearance for the Blues in this afternoon’s 1-1 draw at Bristol Rovers.
Introduced in the 62nd minute, the Estonian international produced an encouraging debut in the centre of midfield, with some nice touches in his first match in English football.
Fellow newcomers Odin Bailey and Eoin Kenny started the clash with the League Two side, with substitute Brandon Downey grabbing a 77th-minute equaliser for the visitors.
And now Mousinho is bracing himself for two more new arrivals before Pompey are next in action at Wycombe on July 25.
He added: ‘Any new signing we are excited about, whether the player coming in is a front liner, whether it’s one of the players we are bringing in as a development player, whether we bring someone as a free or we spend a significant amount of money on players - we are happy to add to the squad.
‘You have seen over the past week that we do need to add in a lot of areas.’