‘Obvious place to look’: Where Portsmouth turn now in huge task of replacing Manchester City loanee

John Mousinho believes a return to the under-21 market is the logical place to turn for Alex Robertson’s successor.

But the Pompey boss promised the football operation will not rule out searching in any area, as they carry out the key job of replacing the mercurial Manchester City talent.

Mousinho warned, however, there would be no guarantees of success from looking to land Robertson’s replacement from the Championship.

The Blues were yesterday dealt the hammer blow of Robertson’s season likely being over, after picking up a hamstring injury in training.

Mousinho confirmed a replacement will be sought for the 20-year-old in the coming weeks, with finding another under-21 gem like the Aussie midfielder an avenue to return to. The 37-year-old underlined, however, all options had to be considered.

Mousinho said: ‘The obvious like-for-like replacement for Robbo would be to look back in the 21s somewhere, but we’re open to anything.

‘There’s players available from the league above, the league below and this division. There’s 21s players available from the Premier League, so we don’t want to cut ourselves off to any possibility.

‘The most important thing for us is bringing good players in, it’s not necessarily where they come from. It’s good players and that’s something regardless of who we’re looking to recruit for, whether it’s a replacement for Robbo of any other position we just want good players at the club.

‘The two 21s players (Kamara and Robertson) we’ve brought in this year have been excellent - they’ve been two of our better performers.

‘Abs has been one of the outstanding players at this level, certainly one of our better players for us over the past six to eight weeks. Then we all know what Robbo brought and how disappointed we were to lose him.’

Looking to the Championship for more seasoned operators at a crucial moment in the season, would seem a less risky route for Pompey to travel now in the hunt for Robertson’s replacement.

Mousinho highlighted that treading that path doesn’t represent a sure thing, however, as the Fratton faithful could testify in recent years.

He added: ‘I think traditional sense would say to bring in a tried-and-tested Championship player, but we know over the years we bring in those players and they don’t perform.

‘It’s much more complicated than to say there’s a proven one who will come in and play well. I think we know that not just from time here, but through the history books in terms of Portsmouth and transfers. You think there’s a sure thing coming in and they don’t perform well for whatever reason.

‘We have to try to make sure that whatever player we bring in it’s the right one, with the right fit for this football club that’s going to help us this year.’