Portsmouth are likely to cool their interest in striker Sam Smith as he would have to settle for a place behind Colby Bishop in the pecking order, as per The News.
Portsmouth are set for a busy summer transfer window as John Mousinho looks to take his side back to the top-end of the League One table. A string of departures are expected to pave the way for new additions and a whole host of players have already been linked.
One player Pompey are said to have held an interest in is Cambridge United striker Smith. He’s out of contract this summer and after 14 goals and four assists across all competitions in the 2022/23 season, he could be a hot property.
However now, The News has said Portsmouth are poised to put their Smith interest on the back burner.
Pompey are confident of keeping talisman Colby Bishop this summer and given that Mousinho is likely to persist with just one striker in his starting XI, Smith would have to settle for a backup role.
Logical thinking…
While having two strikers as good as Bishop and Smith in the squad would be a welcome dilemma for Mousinho, opting against a move for the latter does make sense. A starting role is what the 25-year-old will be after and given his success at Cambridge, he wouldn’t have a problem finding it elsewhere if Pompey can’t offer it.
It doesn’t make sense for Mousinho to change his desired system for the needs of one player and if Smith was to be out of the side, it likely wouldn’t do his morale much good.
Smith is certainly a player to keep in mind in case anything happens with Bishop but it could be that he’s better off elsewhere if Pompey can’t start him regularly.
