‘Sole aim’: Portsmouth boss’ thinking as Wolves, Sheffield United and Ipswich Town favourite departs

John Mousinho believes it was mission accomplished as Lee Evans leaves Pompey as a champion.

The Blues boss feels the midfielder’s Fratton stay served its purpose, as he helped his side to the League One title.

Pompey opted against extending the 29-year-old’s stay at PO4, as they announced their retained list on Wednesday.

Evans arrived as a free agent at the start of March, after recovering from a knee injury which had kept him sidelined since October.

The former Wolves, Sheffield United and Ipswich man made four appearances for Pompey, including a start as they won the League One title against Barnsley.

Evans arrived at a time when the Blues’ midfield options looked threadbare and in danger of being totally exposed as they pushed for the title.

The Welshman helped remedy that issue, however, while bringing experience and leadership to Mousinho’s squad.

Mousinho said: ‘We felt really lucky to get Lee on that short-term deal.

‘I thought he performed really well when he played.

‘He came into the football club at a difficult time and provided us with important cover in the centre midfield area.

‘For Lee, he probably would have liked to play a bit more, but we went through that spell of not losing a game and having some really good performances.

‘It was a difficult one to get him more game time, but we were really, really pleased with Lee’s contribution.

‘When we spoke about bringing in Lee, it was for the sole aim of achieving our goal - and we managed to do that.’