Portsmouth boss answers key recruitment question in Championship chase with Bolton Wanderers, Oxford United, Derby County & Co

John Mousinho believes there’s already Championship quality in his squad.

And now the challenge for his Pompey squad members is to make that step up a reality - and show they deserve to be at Fratton Park for the long haul.

Blues boss Mousinho feels the club’s football operation have already demonstrated their plan of buying players who can make an immediate impact, while having the ability to move up a level.

And that will once again be in evidence when they carry out their recruitment in the new year.

Pompey have landed 13 permanent signings since the arrivals of Rich Hughes as sporting director last October, with Mousinho succeeding Danny Cowley in January. 

Paddy Lane and Ryley Towler came in during the last winter window and were supplemented by 11 permanent deals in the summer. Will Norris, Zak Swanson, Regan Poole, Anthony Scully, Ben Stevenson, Christian Saydee, Conor Shaughnessy, Kusini Yengi, Jack Sparkes, Terry Devlin and Ryan Schofield were the players who arrived.

Pompey will now aim to continue down the route of looking for players who can come on that journey to the second tier where possible.

When asked if Pompey are looking to recruit talent who can play in the Championship, Mousinho said: ‘I think so. We have to take it on an individual basis, but that’s the way we’re trying to build the squad. We want to have players who can affect the league above as well.

‘Sometimes it’s possible and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes you just have players who are very well suited to League One, but a lot of the time players can go up and surprise you.

‘That’s the art of making those decisions and making sure that we have players who are capable of it. It’s first of all up to them to get themselves out of this division. Then, if and when they do, it’s up to them to prove themselves at another level.

‘We’ll take that approach. Bringing someone in for the long term isn’t going to stop us in the here and now. We have that flexibility with the owners and their investment.

‘The club had no issue buying a bright, young spark in Paddy Lane who could affect things now but was also there for the future. There’s scope for that in January.’