Seagulls loanee not on Mous’ summer transfer radar
John Mousinho is adamant the purpose of last weekend’s scouting trip to Northampton wasn’t to watch Marc Leonard.
And The News understands the promising Scottish midfielder is not someone currently interesting the Blues in terms of a summer move.
The Pompey boss made it clear the reason he was at Sixfields on Saturday was to run the rule over promotion rivals Derby, ahead of their visit to Fratton Park next Tuesday.
It was a similar story last month, when Mousinho was present at the Kassam Stadium to see the Cobblers play Oxford, before the U’s came to Fratton Park.
Leonard was on Pompey’s radar last summer, as a sizable overhaul of the firstteam squad was carried out.
The Brighton talent, who’s on loan at Northampton for the season, isn’t a consideration for what unfolds in the next window, however.
Pompey, of course, will be hoping to recruit players for a Championship campaign, as they lead the way in
League One with seven games remaining.
Mousinho has spoken of the potential Leonard possesses, with the likes of Cardiff City, Swansea City, Preston and Plymouthall credited with interest in the former Hearts youngster.
The view at PO4, however, is the 22-year-old isn’t yet ready to step up to the level the Blues aspire to operate at. Leonard was part of the the Northampton team who gave Pompey’s promotion ambitions a lift with a 1-0 win last weekend. Mousinho once again made it clear what the factors where behind being at Sixfields.
He said: ‘Same again, it just so happens at the moment that a lot of the sides we’re going to watch seem to clash with watching Northampton!
‘It was a really good game to watch with Derby coming up in a few days.
‘It’s just a good opportunity to watch a game live. As coaches there are so few games we can get to which fall within, first of all, a decent enough geography for us to get to games after training. But it’s also the game falling on a day we don’t have a game.
‘So it’s really important for us to watch teams live and we picked up some good stuff.’