Josh Murphy, who is connected to Sunderland, is still a mystery to Portsmouth manager John Mousinho.
The 29-year-old’s contract is scheduled to end this month, but he did contribute to Oxford’s promotion from League One by scoring twice against Bolton in the play-off final at Wembley. Despite the fact that the U’s have stated they are in negotiations with Murphy for a new contract, a number of teams, notably Sunderland, West Brom, and Hull, have reportedly expressed interest.
Murphy is reportedly on Pompey’s shopping list, and the Blues are hoping that head coach Mousinho’s connections to Oxford—where he played his final game—will facilitate a possible trade. This information is based on Portsmouth News, our sister publication.
“To tell the truth, I know Josh, and he’s an excellent player. Regarding Portsmouth’s interest, Mousinho stated, “He had a really good finish to the season, but for those kinds of players, whether there’s interest or not, we want to keep everything respectful of the players, other clubs, and everything else going on.”
“There are connections with Josh because I used to play for him, but we have to leave it alone and not really discuss whether we have any interest in it or not.”
In 2018, Murphy transferred for £11 million from Norwich to Cardiff. Earlier this summer, Oxford manager Des Buckingham responded to a question concerning Murphy’s future by saying, “I may have had a chat with him when we were up on the gantry lifting the trophy.”
“We’ll make every effort to keep Josh on staff. He’s a fantastic guy, a skilled player, and a solid fit for our desired approach. We’ll exert as much effort as we can and follow the results.
