Portsmouth Chief Opens Up On Battle To Land Championship Experience Players In January Window

Pompey could face a challenge to land the Championship nous many feel is required in the transfer window.

Chief executive Andy Cullen admitted the Blues may have to take on a battle to bring in additions from second-tier rivals, when winter recruitment gets underway in January.

And Cullen acknowledged trying to do business with teams at the top of the table may be more fruitful, rather than attempting to trade with sides who will likely be relegation rivals.

Pompey are gearing up for what looks set to be a massive window, when it comes to their hopes of securing their Championship berth for another season.

One of the fan criticisms of the summer business was a lack of players brought in who had a significant bank of second-tier experience in their lockers.

Of the 15 signings made, Jordan Williams, Jordan Archer, Josh Murphy, Andre Dozzell and Matt Ritchie would reasonably fall into that category.

Pompey wouldn’t necessarily have to recruit directly from their rivals to improve that situation, though that would naturally be where the bulk of Championship experience lies.

Cullen pointed out the circumstances of players can make deals with current opponents possible, especially if their contracts are running down.

But the Pompey chief also accepted landing targets from those in the same division wouldn’t necessarily be straightforward.

He said: It’s always a consideration (to sign players from Championship sides) in the same way we’d look at it, if a rival came in for one of our players.

‘Ultimately there’s a lot of different things at play.

‘The (25-man) squad lists might be a consideration, if teams want to do their own recruitment and need to make changes to their squad.

‘There’s the appetite of the player to do so (move) and freedom of contract at the end of the season may encourage a particular team to gain some money for a player.

‘There’s different aspects at play, but it’s much harder to recruit from a rival, and if teams are in the bottom six or eight of the Championship it will be tricky.

‘It would be easier to do it from the top end of the Championship, to be honest.

‘There’s all those dynamics in play and that’s why January is so different and so complex.’