John Mousinho is confident Pompey will keep their three loanees in January.
Alex Robertson, Tino Anjorin, and Abu Kamara are on season-long contracts, but their parent clubs have the option to recall them at the halfway point.
It raises the prospect of the League One leaders losing any of the promising trio, who have all made encouraging contributions at Fratton Park so far.
Indeed, Pompey have previously been stung by the unscheduled departures of loanees Ben Thompson (Millwall), Andre Green (Aston Villa), and Josh Griffiths (West Brom).
However, Mousinho insists that no indication has been received from Manchester City, Chelsea, or Norwich that they are prepared to implement recalls. ‘I’m very, very pleased with all three, and naturally there will be some interest in January,’ Pompey’s head coach told The News.
‘The reason I make that point is this is a great place for them to develop, to keep learning, and to have another half a season where they can excel again.
‘So far there has been no indication of any of them being recalled and I am confident with the situation at the moment. We have good communication with all of the clubs, so I’m sure we’d get a lot of attention.
‘In my opinion, Alex Robertson has really excelled on his second loan, he has been excellent, filled different positions, and is a real bright spark this season,’ says manager Mark Hughes.
‘Tino was just getting started; he scored against Reading, was a standout in the first half against Chesterfield, and hopefully the club is pleased with his progress. Abu has far exceeded our expectations; he’s had to fill in an unfamiliar position and has scored and assisted in many of those games. He’s looked like a real threat and has done an excellent job playing on the left.
It is standard practise to include the option of a January recall in season-long loans.
And, in the case of Pompey, they have no plans to activate it in the case of Toby Steward, who is currently shining at Gosport. That’s the whole point of a loan,’ Mousinho added. We have players on loan; Toby Steward is playing every game for Gosport and is doing extremely well at the top of the league, which is fantastic for him. We recalled Harvey (Laidlaw) and sent him to Horndean because he wasn’t doing so well in terms of minutes over there.’
