'Not necessarily': Portsmouth boss' surprise transfer admission about strikers ahead of key January window
Only Sheffield Wednesday have scored fewer than Pompey’s 18 goals in the Championship this season
John Mousinho insists strengthening Pompey’s centre-forward options ‘won’t be a priority’ in the January transfer window.
And he is convinced the Blues already possess enough goals in the team - but must be unlocked through more creativity.
Only rock-bottom Sheffield Wednesday have scored fewer times in the Championship than Pompey’s tally of 18 in 21 matches this season.
Meanwhile, Mousinho’s centre-forward options of Colby Bishop, Makenzie Kirk and the long-term injured Thomas Waddingham have totalled two goals between them in the 2025-26 campaign.
Nonetheless, while the Blues head coach wants between 3-6 new faces when the window opens next month, he’s adamant adding another centre-forward is not at the top of his wish-list.
Portsmouth boss: That won’t be a priority of ours
Mousinho told The News: ‘It’s not necessarily a position we are desperate to fill.
‘We’ve got options in terms of back ups to where we’ve been to Colby as that front liner. That won’t be a priority of ours.
‘It’s just one of the areas we’ve been looking at constantly and we’ll keep monitoring, but we are certainly backing Colby to be able to refind the goal-scoring form that he has done previously in a Pompey shirt.
‘There have been promising signs in the last two games. I think his performances have gotten a lot better as well, so we are pleased with that.
‘With forward players, they are always a bit more expensive than everyone else on the pitch, but that wouldn’t necessarily be a prohibitive factor.’
Pompey’s leading scorer has four goals
Adrian Segecic is presently the leading scorer with four goals in 17 matches, with Terry Devlin, Minhyeok Yang and Callum Lang behind him, each with two.
Encouragingly, Lang has now netted in successive Pompey games after returning to action four weeks ago following a long-term hamstring injury.
Yet Yang, whose form has noticeably dipped, hasn’t scored since October 4 against Middlesbrough, while both of Devlin’s goals arrived in the same match - away at Hull early last month.
Bishop was restored to the side at Derby on Saturday after spending two games on the bench. He responded with an excellent first-time pass in the build up to Lang’s opening goal in the 1-1 draw.
Yet his ongoing form remains a huge issue for the Blues, registering just once in 21 games this season, having finished as their 11-goal top scorer last term.
Mousinho, however, believes there are plenty of goals in his team.
‘We definitely have goals in the side’
He added: ‘We’ve got goals in the team, we know that. Murph had seven last year, Colby 11, Langy 10, we definitely have goals in the side.
‘Segs has chipped in with four this season, he’s our top scorer, so we’ve got goals in the side. I think we need to be better in attacking areas, we need to be a bit more creative, we need to be a bit more patient at times.
‘We don’t look at it and think we haven’t got any goals in the squad, we just need to make sure that, in certain areas of the pitch and certain situations, we do a lot better.’
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