'Right for the football club': Andy Cullen on why Portsmouth are correct to recruit players while no head coach is in place

And he is adamant the 20-year-old’s capture will benefit the Blues’ long-term future.

Bristol City last week recalled Towler from a successful loan spell at AFC Wimbledon to enable them to sell the central defender to the Blues for an undisclosed fee.

Signing a three-and-a-half deal, it represented the first signing under sporting director Rich Hughes – and happened days after Danny Cowley had been sacked.

Yet Cullen has revealed Pompey had to move quickly to land the highly-regarded youngster, irrespective of no boss in place.

The Blues chief executive told The News: ‘We knew we had to move pretty fast with Ryley, we would have looked to do that one whatever the coaching position.

‘It was one we identified as right for the football club.

‘Ryley was one we had been monitoring for some time, but had to act pretty quickly because of the nature of his loan deal at Wimbledon.

‘As with all loan deals, you have different clauses as to when players can be recalled, so we had to move swiftly, otherwise he would have remained at his loan club for the rest of the season.

‘In terms of our structure with a sporting director now in place, we are making recruitment decisions for the long-term future of the football club.

‘We want to get the balance of the squad right, we want the balance of experienced players, and we are very lucky to currently already have that in the squad.

‘But we want to bring in more younger permanent players into the group, players who are first-team ready and will be assets of the football club.

‘Ryley ticks those boxes for us. He has played 43 games already, has experience at first-team level, and is under-21 so doesn’t impact on our squad cap this season.

‘He is the type of player that Portsmouth Football Club should be looking at.’

Pompey now have two spaces left in their permitted 22-man squad, following the departure of Josh Koroma.

As a goalkeeper, former loanee Josh Griffiths was never included in that calculation – and neither is Towler, considering his age.

Cullen added: ‘Ryley fits the identikit of that young, athletic player we want to bring more into the building.

‘What we do in this window is going to impact long-term as well. It’s not just short fixes – and he really fits.’