Pompey will not consider letting any players depart before more January transfer arrivals are sealed.
John Mousinho is adamant two new signings need to be completed, before any further exits are sanctioned at the winter window’s climax.
Pompey need another arrival after Sunderland man before exits
Alese is in Pompey’s sights, with a deal close to being sealed in time for the 25-year-old to be available to face West Brom this weekend.
But Mousinho’s hard-line stance over departures points towards a busy deadline day for the Blues, in terms of the squad members who could potentially be on their way by 7pm on Monday night.
The head coach has made it clear the ongoing Fratton Park injury crisis means he cannot afford to let any players leave, who he’d otherwise give the green light to move on.
Jacob Farrell is clearly an example of a squad member who falls in that category, with the Aussie needing minutes after recovering from an injury-ravaged stay at PO4.
The News understands there is interest in the left-back, who has now returned to the first team and saw his first Championship minutes in 16 months last week.
Luke Le Roux is another who could conceivably move on, with the £1m signing struggling to make a major impact since joining from Swedish side Varnamo last summer.
Dundee defender Luke Graham is a January target, though the SPL team are dealing with defensive injuries and want to keep the Scottish under-21 international who is valued north of £1m.
And Svante Ingelsson is seen as an option who can strengthen Pompey’s midfield, though Millwall are among the rivals interested in the 27-year-old.
With 10 players currently sidelined and doubts over some of those options who have been declared available for duty, Mousinho is simply not willing to leave himself exposed any further – until more deals are done.
Mousinho: ‘Definitely a couple in before we let anyone go.’
When asked if he will let players leave, Mousinho said: ‘Not at the moment.
‘From a head coach’s point of view letting anyone out seems counter-intuitive because of the numbers we’ve got.
‘If we add two or three and get two or three injuries back then we might have to look at it. At the minute, though, it’s definitely going to be a couple in before we let anyone go.’
In terms of squad space, Pompey are working within the confines of a 25-man group which has to be registered with the EFL, though contracted under-21 players don’t count towards that total.
A space was left open going into January, with Minhyeok Yang recalled and Mark Kosznovszky set to be deregistered after a season-ending injury. They will be offset by the signings of Millenic Alli, Ebou Adams and Keshi Anderson, with numbers needing to add up after Monday’s deadline.
That logically means needing to sell players, or deregister those who remain after the window and are not deemed part of Mousinho’s plans.
Mousinho added: ‘We had a space (going into January), Minhyeok’s off and we deregistered Kos (Kosznovszky), because he’s out for the season and and we had to take a view on that. If Shaughs (Shaughnessy) was out for the season we may have needed to think about that.
‘We’ll be flexible on it and figure out where we are after the window.
‘We don’t have to worry about where we are now. We have to keep an eye on it, but there’s the younger players who don’t count towards the 25-man total.
‘The (contracted) under-21s don’t count, but we haven’t really been in that market so far. We’ll prioritise strengthening the squad for now over everything else.’
