LATEST: Portsmouth boss confirms latest as Ipswich Town defender and former Derby County and Rangers man emerges as January option

John Mousinho confirmed a defender is on Pompey’s shopping list as George Edmundson emerged as a January target.

The News understands the Ipswich Town centre-half is a January consideration for the Blues, with the January transfer window opening on Monday.

The 26-year-old is out of favour with the Championship high-fliers after making just five appearances this term.

The former Derby County and Rangers man signed a four-year deal at Portman Road in 2021 and has made 64 appearances in his time with the Tractor Boys, including 25 outings last term as they were promoted from League One.

Mousinho admitted a central defender is likely on Pompey’s shopping list in the coming weeks.

He said: ‘We’re one centre-half down so it’s a possibility. There is the fact Connor Ogilvie is coming back from injury and can fill in there.

‘Naturally when you have Regan Poole out for that long it’s a consideration for us, but we’re not going to do anything that we don’t think strengthens the side. That’s something we have to take a lot of consideration with when thinking about any transfer.’

Pompey have pursued Edmundson on more than one occasion over the years with Kenny Jackett keen when he joined Rangers from Oldham in 2019. Danny Cowley then stated the Blues were ‘blown out of the water’ by Ipswich when he linked up with Paul Cook two years ago

When pressed on interest in Edmundson, Mousinho wasn’t keen top speak specifically about the Manchester-born man.

He said: ‘I learned this the hard way in the summer, commenting on an Ipswich player in Panutche Camara and his fitness.

The lesson I learned coming out of that was unless the player is on a free or through the door - it’s probably best when they are contracted to another club not to speak about them. That’s regardless of whether any rumour is true or not - so that’s what we’re going to do and not comment on that.

‘We’ll make sure with the transfer policy and spending a bit of time with Rich (Hughes) in the hotel yesterday that we’re solid in terms of how we want to move forward. So we’ll get the game done on Monday, reassess and go from there.’