'More to come': John Mousinho's recruitment reassurance to Fratton faithful as Portsmouth allay loan fears

And he is adamant the Blues won’t now solely turn to loans to fulfil their purported target of 10 summer signings.

Pompey signed six players in the opening eight days of the window during a breakneck start to their squad strengthening programme.

Of those new faces, transfer fees have been used to pay for half of them – Anthony Scully, Terry Devlin and Christian Saydee.

Since February, sporting director Rich Hughes has repeatedly stated he is targeting between 9-10 signings ahead of the 2023-24 campaign.

Potentially, that leaves four spaces in Mousinho’s current squad, who yesterday returned to training.

But the head coach insists the Blues may not stop at 10 – and won’t be relying on loans to reach that figure.

He told The News: ‘We definitely aren’t now focusing on loans. We are fluid.

‘We have made no secret of it, we want to move away from that reliance on loans and are still looking at permanent signings.

‘I can tell you, the ones we are currently working on, spending the majority of our time on, are permanents.

‘I wouldn’t rule out filling the loan quota, although we’d probably be more comfortable having 2-3 loans.

‘It’s really, really difficult to say a total. If there are five loans we think can come in and affect the squad brilliantly, then we’d bring them in.

‘If we think no loans are going to be the best option because of all the permanent business we can get done, then that’s great as well.

‘Most likely we’ll probably just add on top of what we’ve got come that time they become available.

‘We’ve so far brought six players in – and they are our players as well, it makes a big difference.

‘During this transfer window, we want to get more permanents in.’

In addition to Scully, Devlin and Saydee, so far this summer Pompey have also recruited free agents Will Norris, Conor Shaughnessy and Ben Stevenson.

Yet clear gaps still remain within their squad – while others could well depart Fratton Park and create room for more new additions.

Mousinho added: ‘Loans can be great – and have been great for us – without a doubt.

‘We've had some really successful loan players and I’m sure Pompey have some fond memories of some over the past.

‘Throughout my career, I’ve seen some really good loan players, some average ones and some really bad ones.

‘But it feels better to have your own players at a club. You know you've got next year and the year after that with them, while they have real vested interest in the club.

‘There is something substantive at the end of it for them, in terms of results week in, week out.’