Portsmouth forced to wait on Gustavo Caballero as Paraguay winger's focus shifts
Gustavo Caballero is set to link up with his Paraguay team-mates on Sunday as attention turns to next month’s World Cup finals
Pompey will have to wait before they can conclude any deal for former loanee Gustavo Caballero.
The Blues missed their opportunity to turn the winger’s loan stay at Fratton Park into a permanent arrangement when they failed to meet the deadline on the exclusive transfer option they had on the Santos forward.
A fee in the region of £2.5m was reportedly agreed with the Brazilian side when Caballero completed his temporary move to Pompey on February 1. However, the option wasn’t triggered after John Mousinho admitted the Blues wanted to renegotiate the fee initially agreed upon.
That has since let other clubs enter talks with the player’s represenatatives, including other Championship sides. Meanwhile, a further complication has emerged after it was confirmed that the Paraguayan’s former club, Nacional, also retain a percentage of the player’s economic rights.
Those developments have slowed down the process of Caballero potentially returning to Fratton Park.
Now the player’s invite to begin training with Gustavo Alfaro’s national squad ahead of next month’s World Cup is set to put any talks on hold.
With the 24-year-old meeting up with the rest of his fellow countrymen on Sunday, his focus now is solely on the Paraguay national team and their first game against joint-hosts USA on June 13.
It’s also the player’s intention to make the most of the faith placed in him by Alfaro, who handed the winger his debut against Greece in March, and boost his profile on the world’s biggest stage.
A return to England remains the player’s ambition, regardless of whether Pompey can negotiate a move back to Fratton Park.
Caballero featured 12 times for the Blues over the second half of the season and quickly established himself as a fans’ favourite.
The winger, however, missed Pompey’s last five games of the 2025-26 campaign with a groin injury, a setback he has since recovered from.