John Mousinho’s Portsmouth prepare for a huge campaign in the Championship, where the captures of Abu Kamara and Alex Robertson could be crucial to their season in 2024/25.
For a club of Pompey’s size, they ideally need to be in the top two tiers of English football, but since their promotion from League Two in 2017, they had struggled to get themselves back into the Championship until Mousinho’s first full season in charge during the 2023/24 campaign.
Consolidation in the second tier is now paramount, which will also require a degree of continuity in the playing squad, as well as some clever additions to the first-team. The current squad looks mostly solid after they dominated League One but, of course, the Championship is a whole new level, meaning they will have to strengthen this summer in order to give themselves the best chance of a strong finish.
Two of Portsmouth’s main priorities this summer should be re-signing Alex Robertson on loan from Manchester City and Abu Kamara from Norwich City. The young midfield pair spent the 2023/24 League One campaign on loan at Fratton Park and became fan-favourites, even with the Man City loanee seeing his season cut short through injury.
Robertson, in particular, is a move that suits all parties, with a step up to the Championship with a club he is familiar with able to do his development the world of good. If Norwich City are also willing to part ways with their youngster in some capacity, then Portsmouth would make sense for the player. Kamara played a crucial role during his loan spell at Fratton Park last season.
He scored eight goals and assisted ten in League One, and Mousinho has refused to rule out a return for the 20-year-old., and is hopeful of completing another deal for Robertson as well.
The latest transfer news regarding Abu Kamara and Alex Robertson
Mousinho believes the club are in the “best possible position” to bring Robertson back to Fratton Park following a successful loan spell. The Manchester City loanee scored once and set up four goals in 26 appearances in all competitions last season.
Robertson was a key figure in Portsmouth’s midfield until a hamstring injury curtailed his season in January and Portsmouth are hopeful of bringing him back to PO4 for a second term. According to Australian news outlet FTBL, the Championship newcomers face competition from Everton and several unnamed Championship and Premier League clubs, who are reportedly interested in the Australia international.
Mousinho, however, is confident Pompey can land Robertson, who is under contract with City for another 12 months, this summer. Speaking via The Portsmouth News, he said: “I think so [Pompey could offer what Manchester City would want from a loan]
“From our point of view, we’ve put ourselves in the best possible position we can. There’s nothing more we can do on that.
“For Alex and Man City it will probably be one where we will wait until mid-to-late pre-season to see what their intentions are with Alex, and then we will go from there.
“It wouldn’t surprise me massively if Alex is a part of their first-team plans in pre-season and it’s a decision they make later on.”
Not only is the Portsmouth chief hoping to add Robertson back to his ranks, but another winger or two as well, even with the club completing a move for Oxford United’s play-off final hero Josh Murphy. Mousinho has not ruled out a Fratton Park return for Kamara, explaining to The Portsmouth News that Portsmouth will be ready to react if the Norwich youngster is made available.
He said: “I’m assuming the new manager at Norwich will want to have a proper look at him before making a decision.
“You never know, we’ll certainly be there if anything develops from Norwich’s standpoint.
“We know Abs was excellent for us last season, but you never know what Norwich have in the building, what they’re planning to bring in or what profiles they’re looking for.
“From our point of view if Abu becomes available, we’ll be there. So we’ll keep in contact and go from there.”
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