Portsmouth FC latest: Rich Hughes on Alex Robertson/Tino Anjorin, Abu Kamara bid, John Mousinho message | OneFootball

FLW looks at the latest headlines regarding Portsmouth ahead of their Championship return.

Portsmouth are preparing themselves for a huge Championship campaign under John Mousinho.

The Hampshire side enjoyed a dominant 2023/24 season in League One, finishing on 97 points, which allowed them to lift the trophy at the end of it.

Their achievement marked a spectacular return to the second tier for the first time in 12 years for Pompey. John Mousinho has begun preparations for the Championship by bringing in a few fresh faces, including Oxford United star Josh Murphy and Barnsley defender Jordan Williams.

At the same time, he has seen several players depart as he looks to build as strong a squad as possible for second-tier football. Many of Portsmouth's standout players last season were actually on loan and have since returned to their parent clubs, but perhaps the Pompey faithful can expect to see one or two return this season.

FLW looks at the latest developments concerning the Fratton Park outfit.

Rich Hughes discusses the potential return of Premier League pairing

The Blues are reportedly keen on bringing back former loanees Alex Robertson and Tino Anjorin to the club, who are on the books at Manchester City and Chelsea respectively.

Both players spent last season on loan at Fratton Park and both impressed despite suffering injuries during their time. Robertson was especially popular, having started the majority of games and assisting four goals before his season-ending injury in the winter.

Pompey supporters would surely be thrilled to see the duo return, but sporting director Rich Hughes is unsure whether deals are possible.

Speaking to The News, he said "There are a lot of conversations going on with a lot of players at this point and Robbo and Tino are both still very much at the forefront of conversation - but probably not with the clarity everyone needs at this point.

"Robbo is a conversation we’ve been having all the way through with Manchester City. First and foremost, we have to completely respect he’s their player, he’s going into the last year of his contract, so there are a few different scenarios in play.

"Probably the thing which has slowed it down is he has been rehabbing from his injury, so is probably going to be a little behind in pre-season. He has to make sure he is right physically. "Tino is another player in the last year of his contract and a lot of what we said about Robbo will reflect across Tino as well. "The Tino we saw pre-injury showed glimpses - then the Tino post-injury when we got him back looked like a top, top player. Some of his performances really helped get us over the line at the back end of the season.

Pompey are keen to sign Abu Kamara on a permanent deal

According to Football Insider, Portsmouth are ready to submit a bid for Norwich winger Abu Kamara. Those reports suggest that the Canaries are reluctant to sell the player, but could accept a decent transfer fee.

Kamara is no stranger to the Portsmouth faithful as he spent the 2023/24 season on loan at Fratton Park and became one of their most important forwards.

Norwich may be keen to utilise the 20-year-old this season and it remains to be seen whether Pompey can find a way to re-sign him.

The proposed fee is yet to be known, but it is believed that an offer will be placed on the table this week.

Portsmouth supporters are obviously very excited about the upcoming season and are hoping to see more new signings arrive at Fratton Park. As mentioned, it will be Pompey's first Championship campaign in 12 years, so it is vital that Mousinho is best prepared for the challenge ahead.

This week, the 38-year-old spoke on the current transfer window and urged supporters to trust him and his staff.

Business was done early, but it has now been a couple of weeks since their last signing.

"In terms of transfers there’s plenty of irons in the fire," Mousinho said. "I’m sure everyone is sick of me saying that, but you’ll have to trust us on that.

The way we’re handling things at the moment is we’re having a lot football and coaching-based activity going on. The focus has been on that with the amount of sessions we’ve had going on.

The recruitment with Rich being out here means he’s taking care of everything on that side of things. He’s working hard on a number of deals which are going on at the moment.

It’s slightly different from last year, the landscape is different when you’re recruiting in the Championship as opposed to League One. There’s no question about that. It’s tough but we want to make sure that we get the right players. We want to get the right players at the right time. We don’t want to rush anything. We want to make sure that by the time we have players in the door we haven’t done it because we’ve panicked and wanted to get it done early.