Portsmouth transfers: Blues fans send clear transfer message to club ahead of the summer window

The Blues’ fans have revealed the number of new players they think Danny Cowley will need to make them serious promotion contenders next season.

But in order to do that and ensure a seventh successive campaign in League One is avoided, they want owners Tornante to do more to fund a drive towards the Championship.

The News launched it’s latest Big Pompey Survey last week in order to gauge supporter opinion on the season just gone and the forthcoming transfer window.

As usual, Blues fans didn’t let us down to guarantee a large cross section of the fan base was represented.

And it appears questions about what Cowley needs to do this summer and the finances required to achieve ambitions unified those among the fan base who took part.

Indeed, when asked the question: ‘How many new players does Danny Cowley realistically need to turn Pompey into serious promotion contenders?’, 74.3 per cent said five to eight new recruits were required to take the Blues from 10th place in League One to competing for a place in the second tier of English football next term.

That’s roughly the same number the Blues boss himself revealed he needed back in March – indicating that both the manager and supporters are in agreement that a busy summer of recruitment is needed.

Yet it falls short of the nine to 12 players that 14.7 per cent of our participants said were required.

Eight per cent said just one to four new additions were needed, while three per cent think a complete overhaul was a must, with 13+ new faces considered essential at Fratton Park this summer.

Again, when it came to areas of the pitch that needed the most surgery, 72.5 per cent were in agreement that the forward department required drastic action in the weeks ahead.

That’s hardly surprising, with Cowley having no recognised senior strikers on his books at present. Both George Hirst and Tyler Walker have returned to their parent clubs following their loan spells, while no agreement has been reached yet with out-of-contract front man Aiden O’Brien.

Meanwhile, another indicator of the fans’ concerns regarding the Blues’ attacking prowess, is that 9.5 per cent believe now was the time for Pompey to bring in a recognised No10 to supply the goals to those strikers needed.

Despite losing loanee keeper Gavin Bazunu at the end of the 2021-22 season, the third most popular answer to the ‘Where would you prioritise signings?’ question was central midfield (7.7 per cent).

That suggests the goalkeeping department is not an area of concern (3.8 per cent), with Alex Bass now back from his own loan spell at Bradford.

Supporters are split on whether Cowley will be given the sufficient finances to make Pompey stronger next season.

Fifty-two per cent said he wouldn’t have the backing to make the necessary adjustments to his squad, 30 per cent said he would, while 18 per cent remain unsure.

But where there was greater agreement was in the question around the Eisners’ level of investment in player recruitment.

Seventy-nine per cent came together to admit they’d like the club’s American owners to increase the funds available to Cowley this summer.

The only disagreement was by how much, though.

Fiftty-three per cent said some extra funding wouldn't go amiss.

Meanwhile, 26 per cent said they wanted a lot more transfer money to be made available.

The policy of sticking with a self-sustainability approach was the third most popular response to this area of questioning (19 per cent), while just two per cent believed selling the club’s prised assets was the best way to fund a summer overhaul.

The summer transfer window officially opens on June 10.