Portsmouth owners hand out transfer kitty boost after devastating Manchester City starlet blow

Pompey’s financial commitment to Manchester City over Alex Robertson will not ‘clog up’ their January recruitment - thanks to the club's owners.

Blues boss John Mousinho has revealed the money tied up in covering the outstanding Aussie’s stay at Fratton Park will not eat into their window spending, after the midfielder’s devastating injury blow.

The club’s football operation is facing up to Robertson’s season likely being over, after picking up a hamstring injury in training.

Pompey are committed to covering the 20-year-old’s loan stay over the rest of the season, as part of the terms agreed with the Premier League giants.

In terms of the Championship charge, that will now offer no value, but Mousinho told how owners Tornante will cover that financial hit.

Mousinho said: ‘They (Tornante) are not going to take the Alex Robertson money which we’re paying him and consider that spent.

‘Another way of saying it is if Man City recalled him and the money was free it also wouldn’t make a difference to our January transfers.

‘There’s got to be sense to it and we’ve got to be sensible about how we do it, but the owners aren’t saying there’s this very tight, strict budget we have to stick to.

‘We want to be prudent with it and we want to make sure we bring in the right players, but the Alex Robertson money isn’t going to clog up any January transfer plans.’

The significance of Pompey’s recruitment work this month to their promotion push couldn’t be overstated, with Robertson joining another outstanding team-mate in Regan Poole seeing their season at a close.

Tornante have seen January business play a big role in hurting previous promotion bid, which were powerfully placed at this stage. Mousinho feels the owners and board are aware of the importance of the coming weeks, with the bigger issue finding the players who can make a difference.

He added: ‘They recognise the position we’re in and they want to take advantage of that as much as we do. It’s important in any January, let alone this one where we’re in a decent position.

‘We’ve got a couple of longer-term injuries to try and strengthen the squad as much as possible. The trick is doing so and finding players who make us better, there’s no good bringing in players for the sake of it.

‘Getting players who make us better is the real difficult thing, especially with the position we find ourselves in.’