'Goalposts moved' - Hughes on Pompey's failed signings

Portsmouth sporting director Richard Hughes has said "goalposts were moved" by other clubs regarding signings that failed to materialise late in the transfer window.

Pompey added seven players to their squad across January, with three - Jacob Brown, Gustavo Caballero and Madiodio Dio - arriving late on deadline day.

CEO Andrew Cullen admitted that Portsmouth had to walk away from two potential signings even after they met the asking price of the clubs in question.

Hughes echoed Cullen's disappointment, and denied that the reason those signings were not concluded was not down to a lack of finance.

"The frustrations of transfers wasn't predicated on budget," Hughes told BBC Radio Solent.

"There were some frustrating parts in terms of some deals not getting concluded despite the best intentions and the club finding a way to meet financial demands but then have the goalpost moved.

"I think there's been some quite publicised deals that the club was targeting and I think the telling point of that is that those three in particular all remained at their clubs.

"It wasn't a case of the club not reaching adequate levels of finance, without going into detail we met what we were told was the price to conclude deals and that probably didn't portray itself on behalf of the respective clubs.

"So that was frustrating but wasn't a case of the budget not being sufficient to allow us to act in the way that we wanted to do."

Hughes has been at Portsmouth since he was appointed sporting director in 2022 having previously been director of football at Forest Green Rovers.

A number of their January signings have already started to have an impact at Fratton Park, with midfielder Ebou Adams and forward Millenic Alli impressing in early appearances.

Hughes and the Pompey recruitment team left it late but added another three new signings on deadline day as Luton forward Brown, winger Caballero and centre-back Dia came in through the door.

"We went into deadline day to get the things done that we did and we've come out stronger on it," Hughes added.

"I think that also is a representation of the work that was done through the window as well, what we set ourselves out to achieve we've done and that was nice.

"We've added that immediate impact and there's some players to come in and give us that extra bit of momentum and keep pushing on, we're really pleased with the strength and depth we've added to the group."

Portsmouth travel to Preston North End on Saturday (15:01 GMT) in a bid to extend their gap over the Championship's bottom three which is currently just one point.