Danny Cowley’s message over delivering Portsmouth transfer windfall – if purse strings are loosened to land young talent

And the Blues boss is confident Fratton Park can be the home to some of the game’s brightest young talent next season, after his loan successes.

Pompey are pushing on with their recruitment, but the wait is still continuing to get a deal over the line after the transfer window opened last Friday.

One significant strand to the club’s business is executing a strategy of bringing in young players on the rise who can be nurtured and improved.

In that scenario, Cowley is confident he can make good on the plan which has been publicly laid down by the club.

He said: ‘We have confidence we can develop young players.

‘We would have been able to develop him and we would’ve had a £15m player on our hands.

‘It just shows you what can be achieved.

‘The reality is the players of that quality aren’t always available to us on a permanent deal, but are on loans.

‘The players we have, our young players, we have to work to develop to get to the levels of George Hirst, Hayden Carter and Gavin Bazunu. That’s the reality.’

Cowley has strong credentials when it comes to improving young players in his managerial career to date.

A number of those talents have arrived on loan from Premier League clubs, with Arsenal’s Emile Smith Rowe and Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah notable examples.

Leicester’s George Hirst and Bazunu both benefitted from working with the former Huddersfield boss last term.

Cowley believes clubs from the top two tiers can see the benefit of working with him and his staff in the environment Pompey can offer.

He added: ‘If you look at the Gavin Bazunu situation, he’s leaving Manchester City for significant money – £15m – and I’d like to think it’s certainly not done our reputation as a football club any harm.

‘When we come to bringing in young players on loan from Premier League clubs, I’m sure they’ll be aware what we’ve done with the likes of Gavin, Emile Smith Rowe, Trevoh Chalobah and boys like them.

‘We are confident of doing that and clubs have confidence we are going to look after them in the best way and continue their development.

‘Gavin was coming off a relegation with Rochdale and had actually lost his place in the team over the final 10 games.

‘So credit firstly to Gavin for what he’s achieved, but also to a degree the club with the way we looked after him and the opportunity we provided.

‘We were really good for each other ultimately, and we have real confidence in ourselves to work with young players, develop and improve them.

‘It’s certainly part of the job we really enjoy and we hope, off the back of working with these boys, we are able to attract some of the best, young players in the country to Portsmouth.’