Portsmouth transfers: everything Danny Cowley has said this week about potential comings and goings at Fratton Park as countdown to deadline day begins

The Blues have been active throughout the summer with 11 new faces coming through the door at Fratton Park, while 12 players have headed the other way, including last season’s five loanees.

Indeed the number of departures could increase with Kieron Freeman and Ryan Tunnicliffe both credited with moves elsewhere, as well as youngster Haji Mnoga, who could make a loan switch away from PO4.

With plenty of activity still on the cards before next Thursday’s deadline day, we’ve taken a look at everything Cowley has said regarding the Blues’ transfer business from the past week.

Here’s what he said ahead of some important days that could define Pompey’s season.

Q: What’s the situation and what’s your take on the transfer window, plenty of twists and turns still to come.

‘There’s seven days, we would like to bring one or two more in if that’s possible.

‘We know we might have to trade to make that happen and a reality but it’ll be really interesting to see what the next week or so brings.’

Q: What are the profiles of the players you are looking to bring in at this stage?

‘We are open minded, we have one more loan spot that we can fill and we would be that eighth attacking player in the group.

‘We’ve got seven at the moment, three forwards, four wingers. We have people like Owen Dale that can play as a nine, Ronan Curtis can do that as well. Reeco (Hackett) can play as a 10.

‘For us, to bring an additional player at that end of the pitch would be good. If we could bring in one more, then we would like to, but time will tell.’

Q: What is the situation with Haji Mnoga, are you hoping to get him a League Two loan?

‘I think we still believe this is the right thing for Haji. I had a conversation with him last week.

‘If I was being selfish and doing what’s best for me, I would definitely keep Haji in the building. But, for him and his career, and if we want to invest in our young players, then we have to make long-term decisions for them.

‘For Haji this year, the focus point is to try and get him to play 35+ senior games. If we don’t think that is going to be with us then it makes sense to try to find him that loan move which will keep accelerating his development.’

Q: Would that create a need to bring in a temporary solution?

‘I think we are open minded.

‘We know that the last week of a transfer window can bring up many surprises. I don’t like surprises, so to plan really well and to have a solution for every potential circumstance is what we need to do.

‘We’re in that place and we’re ready to be flexible and agile if and when necessary.’

Q: Does the loss of Louis Thompson make you mindful of looking at that area as well?

‘It was an area that we do have depth.

‘Realistically the earliest Louis will be back is January. We are going to lose a very important player for a significant period of time and Louis has qualities that maybe we don't have in that position.

‘He’s going to be a loss for us for sure.’

Q: There’s talk that Doncaster Rovers are interested in Kieron Freeman, are there any developments on that and what’s the situation with him?

‘Kieron played Tuesday, Zak (Swanson) picked up an injury early. To be honest, we made eight changes, we had predetermined subs in our mind because of the game this weekend.

‘When you lose a player early you then have that decision to make and we were worried about Joe (Rafferty).

‘Joe didn’t really have a background in pre-season, he’s done unbelievably well to play as many games as he has up to this point. We did think playing him on Tuesday would put him at risk and we didn’t want to do that.

‘Kieron has trained throughout this period and he played but we’ll just wait and see what next week brings for him.’

Q: Ryan Tunnicliffe has been touted with an exit, any news there?

‘Both players (Freeman and Tunnicliffe) are available. We know there is some interest both in this country and abroad but we’re just waiting to see how that unfolds.’

Q: Are you ready for that curveball as and when it comes?

‘Absolutely and this is what our job is all about and why we work really hard in the recruitment to make sure that we have our plans.

‘If something does happen then we will be able to react quite quickly and be agile enough with our thinking.

‘I know you guys try to nail me down to say what the next seven days will look like but the truth is, we know that we should expect the unexpected and we’ll just have to wait and see.’