Portsmouth transfer news: The one more attacking addition Danny Cowley will look for once Owen Dale deal is done

And he stressed that his priority will be a young forward on a permanent deal to compete with the likes of Colby Bishop, Joe Pigott and Dane Scarlett, who have already completed moves to Fratton Park during the transfer window.

Blackpool winger Dale is set to join that trio as Cowley continues an overhaul of the Blues’ attacking options.

But he insisted his work in that department was far from down – with one more on the agenda before the summer window closes on September 1.

The Pompey boss admitted nothing was close.

But he spelt out exactly why he thought another new addition in that department was necessary.

Speaking to The News, he said: ‘We would like to bring another permanent attacking player into the group if we could but I don’t think that is imminent.

‘I think that is something we might have to be a bit more patient with to be able to achieve good value and that’s what we are looking for when we sign permanent players.

‘But we would like to bring in another young player that we could enjoy working with and developing.

‘It’s really important we have 11 under-21 players in our group.

‘We have Toby Steward who’s 17; the three first-year pros in Alfie Bridgman, Dan Gifford and Harry Jewitt-White; the second year pros in Liam Vincent and Haji Mnoga and the third-year pros in Jay Mingi, Jayden Reid and Zak Swanson.

‘All these boys are ours and they’re all under-21, which is super exciting for the future.

‘You then consider we have two of the best young players in the country in Dane Scarlett and Josh Griffiths – that gives us 11 under-21 players, but I would like to bring in another one that is ours, so that would give us 10 young players that I think can be really exciting moving forward.’

To date, six of Pompey’s signings this summer have been on permanent deals – Marlon Pack, Joe Rafferty, Zak Swanson, Colby Bishop, Michael Morrision and Josh Oluwayemi.

Griffiths, Pigott and Scarlet are the three loan additions so far – a number that will be added to once Dale is delivered.