John Mousinho issues interesting response to Preston North End transfer interest in Portsmouth star
PNE are once again being linked with the Pompey attacker
Portsmouth boss John Mousinho says he wants to keep Preston North End linked attacker Callum Lang.
The Lilywhites are, once again, being linked with the former Wigan Athletic man. Lang has had an injury-hit season at Fratton Park after scoring 10 Championship goals in the previous campaign.
His contract runs until the summer but Pompey have an option to extend it by one year. PNE were linked with Lang in the summer transfer window, with reports of a £2million bid being rejected.
The Lancashire Post reported earlier this week that North End were weighing up a return for Lang this month. Football Insider went on to report that a £1.5m offer had been knocked back by Portsmouth.
Former Preston midfielder, Mousinho, was inevitably asked about the speculation after his side’s 1-1 draw at Watford on Wednesday night. Our sister-title, The News, state that it could be three weeks until Lang returns to the pitch.
“I have seen the reports, but I know absolutely nothing, deliberately in terms of ins and outs over the past 24 hours, due to focusing on the Watford game,” said Mousinho. “So I will now catch up with Rich and Andy and see what the situation is there. I have seen rumours online, but I’ve got no idea.
“I definitely want him to stay. I’ve got the ultimate say in everything in terms of what we do in recruitment. It’s not quite as simple as that, though. So, I’m not going to say he’ll stay or say let’s go and sign him, there's a lot more factors to it.
“Just to pick one out, I am sure Eddie Howe wanted Alexander Isak to stay in the summer, but there’s quite a few factors which go into transfers. Whatever everybody thinks about the owners, there’s no pressure to sell players.
“Callum is going to train today and we’ll go from there. If Preston like him, they like him, there’s nothing you can do. There's nothing we can do to stop Preston liking one of our players, or anybody liking one of our players. It’s a nice compliment to our players and the football club.”