Portsmouth transfers: How moves to Stockport, Cardiff, Plymouth, Huddersfield and Oxford are working out for five players who were hotly-tipped to move to Fratton Park in summer

Despite Danny Cowley making 12 new signings before transfer deadline day on September 1, a host of other names were spoken about as efforts were made to bolster a side that finished last season in a disappointing xx position.

Those new arrivals have, to date, certainly lived up to the levels of expectation placed on their shoulders upon walking into Fratton Park, with the Blues second in the League One table and unbeaten so far.

But what about those whose anticipated moves to PO4 fell through for one reason or another?

Kyle Wootton, Kion Etete, Matt Butcher, Will Boyle and Kyle Joseph were five names that continuously appeaered more than most over the summer.

Yet none of them ended up on the south coast as they continued their careers elsewhere.

So how have those moves worked out for the quintet?

We’ve had a look to see, and this is what we’ve discovered...

Kyle Wootton

The former Notts County striker seemed nailed on to join Pompey during the summer, with Danny Cowley holding a long-standing interest in the then non-league front man.

That was until big-spending Stockport's interest emerged and they offered the forward more than what the Blues were willing to pay to take him to the EFL new-boys.

Already, that decision looks to be a good one, though, for the Blues.

While Pompey's new-look strike force of Colby Bishop, Dane Scarlett and Joe Pigott have all settled in well at Fratton Park and have been hitting the back of the net, Wootton has been struggling to do so.

He's scored just one goal in 10 appearances and missed a penalty as Stockport where knocked out of the League Cup by Stoke.

His solitary strike came back on August 13, when Stockport beat Colchester 1-0 in League Two.

Kion Etete

Like Wootton, fellow striker Etete’s season isn’t exactly going to plan, following his move to Cardiff from Spurs.

However, an ankle injury has played a part in his slow start to life at the Championship side.

The 20-year-old picked up the knock while playing for the Bluebirds’ under-21s v Sheffield United at the end of August – and it’s a setback that has kept him out of action ever since.

At the time it was reported that Etete would be on the treatment table for ‘a couple of weeks’.

When those couple of weeks are over, though, he’ll have a lot of catching up to do.

WalesOnline.com recently went through Steve Morison’s summer signings and rated each player on performances to date.

This is what they said about the former Spurs youngster, who had made just five substitute appearances in all competitions before his injury, as they handed him a Grade C.

‘Had just the four substitute (Championship) appearances and on the little evidence we have so far, there is still room for him to improve.

‘Never played at this level before, though, so there will be some adjustment time needed.’

On this assessment, Pompey’s loan move for Etete’s former Tottenham team-mate, Dane Scarlett, seems the better deal so far!

Matt Butcher

The Denmead-born midfielder, who was widely anticipated to make a Pompey homecoming this summer before the Blues ended their interest, has settled in well at Plymouth after moving to Home Park on a free transfer in the summer.

He’s featured in nine of the high-flying Pilgrims’ 10 games to date – and is expected to start for Steven Schumacher’s side when they travel to Fratton Park for tomorrow’s mouth-watering 2nd v 3rd game.

Six of those outings have come as league starts as well, proving Butcher has already established himself a key man as Plymouth look to build on last season’s seventh-placed finish.

Would Butcher have improved Pompey’s midfield from last season. Yes.

Would he get into the current Blues side that currently has Marlon Pack and Tom Lowery bossing games and Joe Morrell on the bench? Probably not.

Will Boyle

The former Cheltenham defender probably knew he’d be acting as a back-up player when he made the move back to Huddersfield on a free transfer in the summer.

But nine games into the season, Boyle will no doubt have thought he’d have more game time under his belt than the 25 minutes of Championship football he’s mustered so far.

Indeed, with struggling and now manageress Huddersfield yet to keep a clean sheet this term, surely the centre-back could have been called upon to help shore up a leaky Terriers defence that has conceded 17 goals in all competitions to date.

Not so, it seems, although a recent hip injury looks to have prevented Boyle from chipping in just when now former boss Danny Schofield needed extra help.

Saying that, when Boyle did mange his one and only start, last year’s Championship play-off finalists lost 4-1 to Preston in the Carabao Cup.

Meanwhile, before the transfer window closed on September 1, Sun journalist Alan Nixon reported that Huddersfield were looking to move the 27-year-old on again to make room for further new summer signings.

Kyle Joseph

The 21-year-old forward was another tipped to make the move to Fratton Park this summer – but it clearly wasn’t meant to be as Danny Cowley swooped for Joe Pigott, Colby Bishop and then Spurs hot-shot Dane Scarlett.

A loan moved to Oxford instead materialised, where the Swansea man has been enjoying a solid start to life at the Kassam Stadium.

The 15th-placed U’s might not be enjoying the best of starts to the latest League One campaign, but Joseph can be pleased with his efforts to date as he’s scored three goals in eight appearances.

No doubt, though, Oxford boss Karl Robinson will see room for improvement – but the same can be said for the entire U’s squad.