'They're costing a significant proportion of Portsmouth's budget': Andy Cullen on why it's essential to end reliance on loan players

The Blues presently have loanees Dane Scarlett, Joe Pigott, Owen Dale, Matt Macey and Di’Shon Bernard on their books.

However, irrespective of how they fare this season, sporting director Rich Hughes will oversee a change of club policy next summer.

According to Cullen, loan players have this season taken up a ‘significant proportion’ of Pompey’s playing budget.

It’s a situation he is keen to address, with the focus switched to recruiting and developing the Blues’ own – rather than spending money to help other clubs’ players flourish.

Cullen told The News: ‘It’s important supporters see that we have a real strategy when it comes to developing the first-team squad

‘We want to reduce the reliance on loans. It’s not so much about the quantity, it’s about the investment we put into loan players, a significant proportion of our budget.

‘That means we are not developing our own assets – and it’s at the expense of our own assets.

‘Compared to other clubs in League One, we are probably very, very investment-heavy on loans.

‘As a proportion of the squad, the fees we are paying in terms of contribution to wages on our loan players are probably significantly higher than most clubs in League One.

‘That’s down to the calibre of loans, even though we have a range, with some young players and some experience as well.

‘We are not saying we’ll never do loans, we want to, we just want to reduce our reliance on loans as a significant proportion of our spend on players each year.

‘We’d much rather be putting our spend into buying and recruiting players who are first-team ready. The loans then support you and help you, but don’t actually dictate what you are all about.

‘That’s not to say we won’t do loans in the future, but not at the expense of developing your own players.’

During the January window, Josh Griffiths was recalled by West Brom, while Josh Koroma’s scheduled season-long stay was cancelled.

Macey replaced goalkeeper Griffiths, while Bernard filled the gap created by centre-half Michael Morrison’s exit for Cambridge United.

Cullen added: ‘Josh (Griffiths) going back wasn’t one of our own making and the first thing we looked at was could we bring a permanent keeper in – which wasn’t possible.

‘We are very, very pleased with Matt (Macey), but, in the longer-term, we want that position to become a permanent acquisition, not necessarily a loan.

‘In the ideal world you can't guarantee that, but that would be the objective.

‘Likewise when Michael Morrison left for Cambridge could we create a permanent position in that one?

‘However, in the January window your options are fairly limited to do things like that, it's more the summer.’