'We cannot lose sight of that' - Portsmouth SD makes important transfer point amid shift in recruitment focus that saw Bristol City and Fleetwood youngsters signed in January

That’s a duty Blues sporting director Rich Hughes said the club will never shy away from, despite a recent concerted effort to target younger players and talented individuals who can add to their transfer valuations while at Fratton Park.

That strategy was evident in January, when Pompey brought in up-and-coming duo Ryley Towler and Paddy Lane from Bristol City and Fleetwood respectively on permanent deals.

It was also part of the summer action plan when Zak Swanson (Arsenal), Josh Oluwayemi (Spurs), Colby Bishop (Accrington) and Tom Lowey (Crewe) were among those recruited.

It’s a philosophy the Blues will carry forward and build on in future transfer windows. But it won’t be Pompey’s primary focus.

Indeed, just like the permanent arrivals of Marlon Pack and Joe Rafferty – or the loan move for Matt Macey last month – the club still see value in adding experience to their ranks.

And that’s something they’ll continue to do as they aim to strike the right balance within the group.

‘I think (brining in young players) is part of the strategy, absolutely,’ said Hughes.

‘But if there’s opportunities to take more established players that we know can affect the team straight away, we’ll always try to be in the market to take them as well.

‘It’s just finding that real balance of keeping the average age down a little bit more than perhaps what we have done in the past.

‘Within that you get increased durability of players hopefully – that’s a key construct – and also you want players that are going to impact the team straight away.

‘Take someone like a Marlon Pack, who probably doesn’t hold a huge transfer value, who is very valuable to the football club in terms of his on-the-field performances and his understanding as a senior payer and a leader. Having someone like him within the group is really important and we cannot lose sight of that.

‘You need to capture those players as well and we’ll never move away from having those types of players as part of the group as well.’

Hughes said the January arrivals of Towler (20) and Lane (21) were important as they helped increase the number of young permanent members of the first-team set-up.

But age was never a factor in terms of other business they tried to conclude.

‘We’ve always tried to identify the best young players,’ added the sporting director.

‘I suppose, the January window is probably a lot tougher to bring in the more established players.

‘I think January is a market to try to influence the younger ages in terms of players like Ryley and Paddy’s age-groups, but as a club I think we’ve shown that we won’t discount people because of age.

‘If we think it’s right and we think they’ll make us better and they’ll in crease in value in terms of their transfer value or their value of performance on the pitch, we’re happy to push forward within that.

‘We’ve got a good squad. We just felt it was important to add a couple of young permanent players to the group and also in terms of Paddy, to have another young attacking player that we own going into next season.’