Richard Hughes backs Portsmouth's big-spending rebuild
Portsmouth’s summer was never going to be quiet. Twelve new faces, a bigger budget, and a clear push to reshape a squad for the demands of the Championship.
Sporting director Richard Hughes has been at the heart of it, and as the window closes, he sounds more energised than relieved.
“I’m pleased with a lot of the work that’s taken place,” he told BBC Radio Solent, reflecting on a market he describes as one of the toughest he has worked through. The club stretched themselves more than in previous years, and it showed.
Up-front fees for striker Marko Milovanovic and midfielder Rocco Shein alone eclipsed Portsmouth’s entire transfer outlay from last summer. This was a statement window, backed by ownership and driven by a belief that the squad needed a serious upgrade to compete. Some of those signings have already started to justify the outlay on the pitch. Others will need time.
Hughes is prepared to wait.
“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. “Overall I’m really pleased with the work that we’ve done and the strength in depth that we’ve added to the group, I’m optimistic as to where we can go with this squad.”
That optimism, though, sits alongside one clear frustration. Portsmouth built aggressively. They did not sell well.
Several out-of-favour players were expected to move on for fees. Those deals never materialised. Andre Dozzell and Luke Le Roux both walked away from Fratton Park for nothing, a stark contrast to the money being spent on the way in.
Le Roux’s case stings the most.
The Blues paid £1m for the South Africa midfielder only last year. He started this season in the side but then slipped down John Mousinho’s pecking order, finishing with just 14 league appearances. By the start of September, the club announced they had reached a mutual agreement to end his contract. No fee, no loan, just a clean break.
Dozzell, who also moved on, signed for MLS side DC United earlier in the summer. This week, Le Roux earned himself a fresh start with Belgian top-flight club Cercle Brugge. Portsmouth, again, saw no return on their investment.
Hughes does not duck that.
“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.
“We wanted to find a permanent solution for him to leave and that didn’t present itself, we’ll take the learnings from this and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
It is a rare thing in modern football: a senior figure openly accepting a recruitment mistake in the same breath as championing an ambitious rebuild. Hughes has nailed his colours to this squad. The budget has been pushed, the depth has been rebuilt, and the club has taken a financial hit to move on from a signing that never clicked.
Now the question is simple. With the market closed and the excuses gone, can this expensive, carefully assembled group deliver the season Hughes believes it can?
