Why Portsmouth will be looking at Ipswich transfer strategy with interest following CEO's loans admission

With a significant proportion of the Blues’ playing budget taken up by such first-team squad members on an annual basis, there’s a desire to reallocate those funds towards permanent Fratton Park recruits.

The need to develop their own assets rather than those of a parent club is also at the heart of the stance.

And if Pompey want to look around to see where such an approach is working, they needn’t go far.

In fact, it’s a strategy automatic promotion-chasing Ipswich have been operating under since their takeover by Gamechanger 20 in 2021.

Of course, finances will play a part in that, with the big-spending Tractor Boys in a position to dig deep into their pockets to bring in permanent players.

Big-money moves for the likes of Conor Chaplin, Sam Morsy, George Edmundson, Marcus Harness, Leif Davies and Panutche Camara testify to that.

Yet speaking to twtd.co.uk this week, Ipswich CEO Mark Ashton explained the reasoning behind their shift in approach.

And it’s, no doubt, one that Pompey will pay close attention to.

Spelling out the Portman Road side’s strategy on loans, Ashton said: ‘I think we’ve made wise investments and what you see now is a team and a club that has an asset value that is growing on the pitch.

‘We have taken our own route and our route has not been to loan five or six players and develop them for their parent club.

‘I think one or two is fine, but the core of our squad is our players and we grow their value and they stay with us whatever league we’re in.

‘That was an approach we talked to the owners about when we acquired the club and we’ve been true to it.

‘If you look at the type of player we’ve acquired, whether that’s Christian (Walton), whether that’s (Harry) Clarke, Broady (Nathan Broadhead), Leif (Davis), whether that’s the homegrown emerging talent of (Luke) Woolfenden and (Cameron) Humphreys, those players have value.

‘They have a value of X in League One and they have a value of 4X in the Championship and they have a value of anything times anything in the Premier League.

‘It’s a model that we want to build where they’re our players and that fits into why we’ve brought in a manager in (Kieran) McKenna, who is not only a first class manager but he’s an outstanding coach and player developer.

‘This hasn’t randomly been thrown together, this has been knitted together over time. And I still firmly believe we’re only at the beginning of the journey.’

Pompey currently have five players on loan at Fratton Park until the end of the season – Matt Macey, Joe Pigott, Di’Shon Bernard, Owen Dale and Dane Scarlett.

The Blues have expressed a wish to retain Macey, Pigott and Dale beyond their temporary stays.

Speaking to The News last month, Cullen said: ‘It’s important supporters see that we have a real strategy when it comes to developing the first-team squad

‘We want to reduce the reliance on loans. It’s not so much about the quantity, it’s about the investment we put into loan players, a significant proportion of our budget.

‘That means we are not developing our own assets – and it’s at the expense of our own assets.

‘Compared to other clubs in League One, we are probably very, very investment-heavy on loans.

‘As a proportion of the squad, the fees we are paying in terms of contribution to wages on our loan players are probably significantly higher than most clubs in League One.

‘That’s down to the calibre of loans, even though we have a range, with some young players and some experience as well.

‘We are not saying we’ll never do loans, we want to, we just want to reduce our reliance on loans as a significant proportion of our spend on players each year.’