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Portsmouth boss John Mousinho delivers blunt warning over Blues squad ahead of season kick-off at West Ham The transfer window closes at 11pm on Tuesday, September 1 John Mousinho surveyed Pompey’s squad heading into their season opener and admitted: ‘We still have a lot to do’. The Blues face West Ham in the Carabao Cup on Saturday with all six of their summer signings expected to travel for the 2026-27 kick-off. Mousinho has made no secret of the fact he wants six more new signings, while a number of players must also be offloaded to meet Football League squad regulations. Abu Kamara is among the impending deals, much to the obvious delight of the Fratton faithful, although Pompey’s head coach isn’t anticipating any more arrivals in time for the Hammers. And Mousinho is adamant more strengthening is required ahead of the September 1 deadline day in order to bring his squad up a level to ‘properly compete in the Championship’. ‘The market has been really difficult’ He told The News: ‘With squad strength, I have been really open about what we need to do and how many we need to bring in until we’re at a level where we can properly compete in the Championship - and we still have a lot of work to do there. ‘It’s very, very difficult to tell so early in the season, but, ultimately, we have the best part of three-and-a-bit weeks to make sure we are incredibly stronger in September. ‘The market has been really difficult, you look at some of the money which has been spent again in the Championship. We have spent more than we’ve ever spent before in my time here and that is brilliant, but you are still competing against sides who are willing to do that as well. ‘We’ve made the signings that we wanted to make up until this point, we obviously missed out on a few and that happens in football, particularly when you start talking about some of the higher cost players we are bringing in. ‘We feel we’re in a decent-enough position with the remaining players we’d like to come. Unfortunately for us, we are relying on whether the player wants to sign or whether a club wants to let them go at this stage. ‘But we are doing our best to make sure that situation constantly improves.’ Six summer signings Odin Bailey, Eoin Kenny, Rocco Shein, Marko Milovanovic, Daniel Bielica and Luke Brooke-Smith have so far arrived at Fratton Park this summer. Of the six, all but Bailey have required transfer fees to secure their services, while Ibane Bowat’s departure to Huddersfield represents the sole player sale. Regardless, while Pompey have embarked on their biggest summer spending spree under Michael Eisner, they still cannot match the financial power of many of their Championship rivals. And with SCR regulations permanently implemented for the 2026-27 season to replace previous profit and sustainability rules (PSR), there are also other financial challenges to negotiate. New Premier League and Championship spending regulations Mousinho added: ‘You look at some of the sides which finished in and around us who have gone on and really strengthened and bolstered their squads in the summer. We know that’s what the Championship is about and we know there are sides able to do that even with the new spending regulations. ‘For us it’s about making sure we are firstly prudent financially and don’t put ourselves in any trouble. Not just the amount of spending and how it affects the owners, but actually how it now affects the balance sheet because we must make sure we are compliant with the SCR regulations. ‘That is something we saw last year with sides who had points deductions, you have to make sure you’re the right side of. ‘It has been really interesting to try to balance that from our standpoint to make sure we can try to compete.’