Portsmouth pinpoint key new asset in attracting signings this summer

The Blues boss has detailed how work has started on upgrading pitches at the club’s Roko base in Hilsea. Meanwhile, the hope is for the football operation to be based out of the Pompey Health and Fitness Club next season once renovation work is completed.

Some of the upgrades have been reported in the club’s accounts which were announced yesterday, while a slice of the £9m invested into the club in equity by Tornante earlier this month will cover training ground work.

Pompey face a busy summer of recruitment, with up to nine or 10 players expected to arrive. Mousinho thinks the progress at the training base will help that process.

He said: ‘Players want to know where they’re working every day, and they want to know they are working in good conditions. The better it is here, the better it is for players to come and work week in week out.

'So from that point of view when we’re telling players they are coming here to develop, they can’t develop on a cabbage patch. They want good pitches, a good gym, good recovery facilities, good canteen and lecture theatre. All of these things coming into play. Those bits all help.

‘We have a beautiful pitch at Fratton Park and with the pitch renovations we’re looking to replicate that here. Those things are really important for incoming players to know the investment is behind them.’

Work has already started on one of Pompey’s training pitches, with the plan to shift focus on to a second at the end of the campaign. The ambition is for everything to be in place by the time players return for pre-season in June, as Tornante’s efforts to build the club’s foundations take shape.

Mousinho added: ‘We’ve torn up pitch one in preparation to relay that, and there’s a huge amount of investment going into that. We’ll have pitch two for the rest of the season, which is great, and when we finish we’ll churn that one up in preparation for when we come back in pre-season.

‘So we’ll have two pristine pitches, and then we’ll move over to the main building if all the building work is complete there. That’s all really exciting, and it will be a fresh training ground with the vision everything the owner and executive saw in buying Pompey Health and Fitness - and then renovating it.

‘They took that chunk of space so we could have a proper first-team training ground. It’s starting to come together and it’s very exciting – it’s all great to be able to attract players here and have a nice place to work.’