Hughes: We’d love to bring loan pair back
Rich Hughes has reiterated Pompey’s ambition to bring Abu Kamara and Alex Robertson back to Fratton Park.
But he admits it’s still far too early to have a clear outlook on the Blues’ chances of succeeding.
The duo were huge hits during the League One title-winning campaign. And now Pompey are a Championship club once more, there remains hope the pair could be secured in another loan arrangement for 2024-25.
With Kamara, that very much depends on whether Norwich can reach the Premier League.
In the meantime, Hughes must bide his time as he eyes summer transfer business.
Speaking before the Canaries’ play-off semifinal second leg at Leeds last night, he Blues’ sporting director told The News: ‘Norwich are still in the play-offs, so we won’t know for another few weeks.
‘Any scenario where we could try to bring Abu back we would do, he’s been excellent, but we fully respect he’s Norwich’s player.
‘Alex is a really good player, we like him. He’s still recovering from his injury, so we have to let that pan out, but again if there was an opportunity for us to revisit those conversations, we absolutely would do.
Norwich regard Kamara highly and see a bright future at Carrow Road, where he’s contracted until 2025.
Hughes added: ‘Me and Phil (Boardman) watched a lot of under-21s and, in my opinion, the three best players that were playing under-21s football before this season were Shea Charles, who went for £15m to Southampton, Alex Robertson, playing alongside Shea in various positions, and Abu Kamara.
‘Abu had the wonderful habit of scoring every time we saw him. He would do something to impact a game from various positions, whether that be nine, 10, a seven off the right, although he didn’t actually play much off the left.
‘His one-v-one ability is very good, he’s a good athlete, he's still growing, still getting stronger. He’s got a lovely left foot and can score goals.
‘We felt Abu could affect games, then he grabbed the season by the horns. For a first loan to feature in every game is astounding, it just doesn’t happen.’