The stark transfer message from Portsmouth boss as he welcomes young Aussie hopefuls

But the Blues boss acknowledged the significance of not neglecting his club’s policy of bringing in assets they can develop as future assets.

Mousinho’s statement comes with ‘teen sensation’ Thomas Waddingham set to arrive at PO4, with the 19-year-old being joined by Hayden Matthews at the cost of £1.27m. Both players are on the way, but Mousinho has been consistent in his view the priority is those who can aid a Championship fight for survival.

That’s not necessarily the case for Aussie pair with both new to England and the challenges of the second tier, though Matthews is thought to be more ready to stake his claim. What Mousinho is clear about is those additions will not harm the work being carried out to land those who can step up for Pompey immediately.

Mousinho said: ‘That’s never been in doubt, never in doubt (it’s the here and now). To be honest, we wouldn’t pursue those players at this stage if we thought that wasn’t the case.

‘For us ourselves and everyone in the recruitment department, the most important thing is staying in the league. What we don’t want to do is completely ignore the long-term future of the football club, that’s something that when I first came to the club was a big part of what I wanted to achieve here.

‘Whether that’s with me or someone else in the future, I think it’s important we do have people in the building who are fine for the short term. So it won’t come at the detriment of anything we do short term, that’s the most important thing, but we’re also not going to ignore it for the sake of it.’

Pompey have so far got two signings over the line in Rob Atkinson and Isaac Hayden, who fulfil the brief of those who can aid Mousinho's side now. With eyes now on attacking options, those coming in need to be in the same vein as those additions.

Mousinho added: ‘What we did last year was bring in five players who can affect the here and now - hopefully everyone can see that with the two we’ve brought so far.

‘They’re not transfer fees, because they’re not available, but we’ve brought them in as top-end loans who can affect the side. It’s important we don’t rush into anything, but they are two who were available early and we were sure we wanted to do - so we did them. We beat off competition in doing that, too, but, yes, here and now is the most important thing.

‘The best thing for this club right now is to remain in the Championship. The next best thing is to have some players for the future - but the best thing is to stay in this league.’