The up-and-coming youngsters catching Danny Cowley's eye who fit Portsmouth's transfer brief

That’s because the Blues already have plenty in place to give the Fratton Park boss something to ponder as the new season edges closer.

Pompey have approached the current transfer window with a desire to attract emerging talent that will add quality to the club ranks now and develop further under their tutelage.

That was their motivation when they signed youngster Zak Swanson from Arsenal earlier this month and announced the arrival of keeper Josh Oluwayemi from Spurs on Tuesday.

They have also put their trust in 20-year-old stopper Josh Griffiths, albeit on loan from West Brom.

And while deals have been also been wrapped up for Maron Pack, Joe Rafferty and Joe Pigott – players at the other end of the age range respectively – it remains central to the Blues’ strategy moving forward.

Twenty-five-year-old Colby Bishop fitted into that brief, given the asset he was expected to become, as the Blues pursued his signature before Blackpool intervened.

It remains to be seen if Cowley will further add young guns to his ranks before the transfer window shuts.

But if he doesn’t, he knows he got a bunch of talented youngsters already on site, bursting to showcase what they can do after impressive pre-season to dates.

And with Zesh Reham (lead professional development phase coach) and assistant Sam Hudson added to the club’s academy ranks during the summer, Cowley is well aware that’s there’s a new breed of hungry, energised youths ready to be unleashed and ready to improve Pompey’s lot in League One.

Reflecting on what he’s seen so far from both a refreshed academy set-up and the youngsters currently at his disposal, the manager said: ‘Since Zesh Rahman and Sam Hudson joined the academy, they’ve been a breathe of fresh air.

‘Honestly, they been fantastic, brought new energy, some new ideas, you can sense a real turn in the culture, which is so important for us as we’ve got to get to a place where we can bring our own players through.

‘We’ve lots of work to do in this area, but we have some exiting young players starting their journey.

‘It’s great to see Liam Vincent play after the year he had last year.

‘He’s a young player who hasn’t played for 12 months so it’s going to take him a bit of time.

‘I think young Haji Mnoga has come back looking well, which is good and it’s good to see him on the grass this last couple of weeks.

‘Dan Gifford is a bundle of energy, intelligent, coachable, a real good character and wants to be the best he can be.

‘Jayden Reid, Jay Mingi – yeah, they are improving all the time and they’ve got some real athleticism.

‘Jay Mingi is an anaerobic beast. He has an ability to work a real high intensity and what we’re trying to do now is give him the aerobic capacity to be able to sustain that and be able to repeat that time and time again.

‘So, yeah, we’ve got some good young players we can call upon.’

Despite Reid’s impressive showings to date this summer, he’s currently out with a hamstring problem, with the club currently awaiting the results of a scan.