‘Things are hotting up’: Portsmouth boss on ‘No1 target’ and transfer latest as window reaches climax

John Mousinho believes the transfer window is coming to the boil for Pompey.

And the Blues boss is confident the approach which saw them land their prime January target can reap more dividends, as the January player chase reaches a crescendo.

Mousinho confirmed the wheels of the recruitment market are now turning, with a week remaining until the February 1 deadline - though he doesn’t expect any new arrivals at Fratton Park before the weekend.

The 37-year-old believes the arrival of Myles Peart-Harris is a prime example of how things are now unfolding, with Wigan attacker Callum Lang another player in Pompey’s sights.

Mousinho gave an insight into how things currently stand in a critical period for promotion ambitions.

He said: ‘The Myles one is a perfect example - things are happening.

‘We had to wait until after the weekend. We tried to bring him last week, but Brentford wanted him on the bench at the weekend. They’ve now had a couple of players return from injury and suspension - and that is happening across the Premier League.

‘Players will start come back from the Asian Cup and Afcon. Teams start to normalise, know where they are and players are coming back from injuries. Teams have been knocked out of the FA Cup so they know positions.

‘These are all the factors the mean things are hotting up and in the last week anyway things start to naturally happen.

‘There’s not necessarily an ETA, but discussions are moving along nicely. We haven’t got an extensive list and we’re narrow in terms of our focus. We’re having to be patient.

'We wanted to be patient with a player like Myles - he’s the one we wanted. We could have taken someone else, but it wouldn’t have been our number one target. Myles being our number one target, we had to wait for him to get the right man.

‘I think there’s a lot of lot of factors we can’t control, but in general it’s been three weeks since the window open. There’s still a lot of time left, but things will happen across the board more.

‘There’s been more transfers this week and things are starting to normalise in terms of what you’d see at the back end of the window. I’d say things are starting to hot up.’

Sporting director Rich Hughes was yesterday shut away in his office at Pompey’s Hilsea training base, as discussions over their prime targets continued. Lang is on the Blues’ hit list with Rotherham keen, but Mousinho confirmed no further new faces are expected before Port Vale after landing Peart-Harris this week.

He added: ‘I wouldn’t anticipate anything for the weekend. Our focus now, certainly from a management and coaching point of view, switches to the game.

‘The recruitment department and Rich are working away on things, but there’s no indication of anything done before the weekend.’