‘We’ll speak to them almost as free agents’
‘There are various different avenues and what we’ve had to be aware of is the fact that if we didn’t take up their options then they could leave.
‘They’re going to be free agents and we will be speaking to them almost as such.
‘If we could find scenarios where both stop with the club and everybody is happy, we’d be pleased about it, but we want to protect everything from both the players’ perspective and the club’s perspective.
‘Everything has to be right for them to remain Pompey players and we’ll sit down over the coming days.’
Champions Pompey have so far released 10 of their 2023-24 squad, including Joe Rafferty and Sean Raggett. Others are Josh Martin, Lee Evans, Matt Macey, Ryan Schofield, Harry Jewitt-white, Haji Mnoga, Liam Vincent and Josh Dockerill, the last two of whom never made a league appearance for the club.
Hughes added: ‘It has to be right for everybody, we want to build the best Championship squad and we will make the decisions accordingly.’
Pack, who celebrated his 33rd birthday in March, appeared in 38 of Pompey’s 46 League One title-winning games.
That took his career tally of league appearances – many in the Championship for Bristol City and Cardiff City – to 564.
Injuries restricted Ogilvie to 23 league starts in 2023/24, plus one off the bench, taking his all-time Pompey total to 102 in three seasons at Fratton Park.
Injuries also restricted Morrell’s League One appearances to just 27 this season, while Rafferty’s consistency – plus some injuries of his own – saw Swanson make just seven league starts, plus another five as a sub.