John Mousinho will be afforded the opportunity to add to his squad this month. He will work alongside sporting director Rich Hughes to bring in the right players to help Pompey achieve their goal of Championship survival.
Speaking to The News on New Year’s Day, Mousinho admitted he would have to be patient before any business could be done. He does, however, expect to see a few new arrivals, and we believe that four new players are being targeted.
He said: ‘Some of the players we’re looking at as of this moment are from all different walks and leagues. Clubs aren’t willing to let them go, they’re not available yet or there’s a bit of work to do in terms of the negotiations.
‘There’s nothing set in stone and things change really quickly in the transfer window.
‘You’ll see that with injuries and suspensions. Plenty of the conversations we’re having with clubs they’re saying: hold your horses, there’s nothing yet but we’ll see where we are at the back end of January.’
Pompey have the upper hand in some ways as the teams around them have all changed their managers over the last few months, and so transfer wishlists will have been changed. Targets have been identified and now it’s a case of playing the waiting game.
But what could lie ahead of Mousinho and Pompey? And which new players could arrive on the south coast before the window closes at 11pm on Monday, February 3? Well, for a bit of fun, The News has utilised the services of Football Manager 2024 – the world’s most popular management simulation – to see what it predicts what business Pompey could conduct.
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Football Manager at play
The Sports Interactive game believes that there will be three signings and two departures this month. Interestingly, they think that two loan signings from Benfica and Roma will be made. Soumaila Diabate will be signed by AS Roma from RB Salzburg, and then loaned out. In real life, the defensive midfielder is at the moment on loan at Blau Weiss Linz.
Defender Diogo Spencer is also tipped to arrive on loan from Portuguese giants Benfica. He’s a 20-year-old right-back who has one cap for the Portugal under-20s side. He’s not in Benfica’s first-team plans, but this season he has made 13 appearances for their reserves team, who play in the Liga Portugal 2 – the second tier of Portuguese football.
The third arrival of the month, and this time a permanent addition is Jay Haddow. Haddow joined Hong King Premier League side Kitchee on a free transfer from Blackburn Rovers in the summer. The 20-year-old is a right-back, and a one-time Japanese under-20 international.
As for departures, Harvey Blair and Ben Stevenson are both tipped to leave on loan. Blair joined from Liverpool in the summer but has found first-team opportunites limited. To date, he’s appeared eight times, but hasn’t made a match-day squad since the goalless draw with Norwich City.
Stevenson, signed on a free transfer in 2023, was not registered on Pompey’s 25-man squad, and so he has been unable to play any first-team football this season.
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