"Would be a job well done" - Portsmouth FC duo tipped for January 2025 exit | OneFootball

Our Portsmouth fan pundit discussed what he'd like to see happen in the January transfer window

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Portsmouth have been told to use the January transfer window to offload fringe players who are out of contract at the end of the season in a bid to freshen up their squad.

Pompey have made a difficult start to the Championship season and could be looking to add reinforcements in the January transfer window, so offloading players with no future at the club could be a good way to free up space on the wage bill while potentially receiving some money for the players who were set to leave at the end of the season for free.

There are also a number of youngsters on the books at Fratton Park who could potentially seal a loan move away from Fratton Park, and while January feels like a long time away currently, clubs will have already started planning their business, both in terms of incomings and outgoings.

Portsmouth urged to offload fringe players in January transfer window

We asked our Portsmouth fan pundit, Miltos Ioannidis, to predict something he expects to see from his club in the January transfer window, and he said he expects Pompey to do all they can to get fringe players off the books, two players in particular.

Speaking to Football League World, Miltos said: "It is early in terms of predicting any incomings, but in terms of outgoings, I can definitely see the club trying to push players out on loan, and permanent deals as well.

“The things is right now, we have a lot of players who are in the final year of their contract and players that look set to not play for Pompey again as they don’t make the matchday squad, fringe players like Ben Stevenson and Tom Lowery.

“They are players that if we managed to get any sort of fee for in January, then it would be a job well done for us.

“I don’t know the likelihood of that happening as any club would look at that and think what is the point of paying a fee for any sort of player like that when we could get them for free in the summer, but I think we’ll be looking to offload players who don’t really have a future with us.

"Maybe we’ll try and get someone like Ryley Towler out on loan depending on what the injury situation in January will be like.

“It’s wishful thinking to hope that all of our defenders will be available as Ryley Towler is still around the matchday squad, but he doesn’t get too much game time and I think a loan would do him the world of good.

“We will have to wait and see, but I think the club will be looking to offload a few players.”

It makes sense for Portsmouth to offload players who are out of contract

According to Transfermarkt, Pompey have seven players out of contract at the end of the current season, and while Mousinho will clearly want to keep some of them, players like the aforementioned Stevenson and Lowery appear to have no future at Fratton Park.

As Miltos alluded to, clubs may not pay a fee to sign these out of contract players as they know they're available for free a couple of months later, but even just getting them off the books could be a good thing for Pompey, especially if they're looking to free up space in their squad.

Promotion to the Championship was always going to mean that Pompey had some players on their books who probably weren't quite up to the league's standard, and Lowery and Stevenson's struggles for minutes suggest just that.

The two players probably know that their time at Fratton Park will come to an end this summer, and they may be keen to part ways in January in a bid to play regular football elsewhere.