Portsmouth’s Richard Hughes on Ambitious Transfer Rebuild

Portsmouth sporting director Richard Hughes has stepped out of a demanding transfer window with something rare in the Championship: clear-eyed optimism.

Twelve new faces have come through the door over the summer, the kind of churn that can rip a squad apart or drag it to a new level. Pompey have gambled that it will be the latter – and they’ve paid to find out.

Up-front fees for striker Marko Milovanovic and midfielder Rocco Shein alone have already blown past last summer’s entire transfer budget. This was a window built on intent, not caution. Some of those signings have already started to justify the outlay on the pitch, offering early flashes of why the club pushed its budget harder than in previous years.

Yet Hughes insists this was no easy spree.

“I'm pleased with a lot of the work that's taken place,” he told BBC Radio Solent, before underlining just how awkward the market felt at Championship level. He described it as one of the most challenging windows he has worked through, a theme he said was shared across the division as clubs wrestled with recruitment at a time of rising costs and tight margins.

The squad, though, is his reference point. The sporting director is banking on time and familiarity to turn a busy summer into a coherent team.

“I'm really looking forward to seeing where the group plays out to be once they get a bit more comfortable with each other and have played a few more games,” he said. The message was clear: judge this group when it has settled, not while it is still learning each other’s runs and habits.

“Overall I'm really pleased with the work that we've done and the strength in depth that we've added to the group,” Hughes added. “I'm optimistic as to where we can go with this squad.”

For all that positivity, there is a bruise on the balance sheet.

While Portsmouth moved decisively to bring players in, they struggled to move others out for fees. Two departures in particular cut against the sense of control: Andre Dozzell and Luke Le Roux both left Fratton Park for nothing.

Dozzell has already resurfaced at MLS side DC United after his exit earlier in the summer. Le Roux, who only arrived last year for £1m, has now secured a move to Belgian top-flight club Cercle Brugge. On paper, that’s a costly piece of business for a player who never fully established himself under John Mousinho.

The South Africa midfielder started the season in the side but slipped down Mousinho’s pecking order, finishing with just 14 league appearances. By the start of September, Portsmouth announced they had reached a mutual agreement to end his contract.

That kind of outcome usually prompts finger-pointing. Hughes didn’t duck it.

“With Luke's situation everyone will be right to point criticism towards myself, John and the recruitment department,” he admitted. “It's one we have to take and we have to wear that, it was something that didn't work on our part and it didn't work for Luke on the pitch.”

The club wanted a permanent solution and a fee to match, but the market never opened up in the way they hoped.

“We wanted to find a permanent solution for him to leave and that didn't present itself,” Hughes said. “We'll take the learnings from this and make sure that it doesn't happen again.”

So Portsmouth emerge from the window with a deeper, more expensive squad, a sporting director who is both bullish and self-critical, and one glaring reminder of how quickly a £1m investment can turn into a cautionary tale.

The squad is now his argument. The season will decide if it proves him right.