The problem with Pompey ending reliance on loans and advantage it hands Charlton Athletic, Oxford United, Bristol Rovers, Lincoln City & Co

And the Blues feels not bringing in temporary additions could be handing an advantage to their rivals.

Chief executive Andy Cullen has spoken of the need to end a reliance on loans, with five players who fit that bill currently in Mousinho’s squad.

The head coach can see the thinking behind that suggestion, but pointed out executing that plan will bring its own issues.

Mousinho said: ‘Moving away from a reliance on loans is excellent in theory.

‘The problem is in order to do that, you have to buy early (in the window) - and that costs a lot more money.

‘So if you move away from loans you’re doing the business earlier, which sounds a great idea.

‘But, for whatever reason, a lot of things open up later in the window.

‘That’s for many reasons.

‘As we look at the next window, if you talk to me in June I will have a larger squad and much more blank slate than I will have at the back end of July or second week in August.

‘I will want to learn about those players. Then as we go through, one, two, three, four or five become available for loan.

‘That’s just what happens at all the clubs - and it filters down from the top.

‘Premier League clubs take their 21s away on tour in July and August.

‘You ask for a loan and they want to see how he does first.

‘You can either say, “well we’ll get our business done early”, or you can be a bit more flexible with it.

‘So in theory we want to move away from it, but we also don’t want to go into the last two weeks of the window and see our rivals take all the best loans - while we say “nah, we don’t want any loans”.’

The January recall of keeper Josh Griffiths highlighted another problem with loan players, as he returned to West Brom in unexpected fashion.

Mousinho feels there’s a balancing act Pompey need to execute when dealing with the issue.

He added: ‘We want to make sure we do it sensibly, but if you have five loans every year you have that immediate turnover every time there’s a window.

‘You get the Josh Griffiths situation where he gets the call at a drop of a hat - and you’re left needing to get a keeper in.

‘So there’s pros and cons to it, but that’s the whole trick with recruitment - and what we have to get right.

‘Loans are an interesting one.

‘They can go wrong, absolutely, but if they go right you tend to be able to take a budget and it increases by a million pound by not doing anything, in a way.

‘That’s because you’ve got a player you haven’t had to pay for, you probably don’t have to cover all their wages and if they perform really well it’s like having a free player in your budget you haven’t had to put money aside for.’