Denver Hume looked set to be leaving Portsmouth but after the transfer deadline passes, he is still at the club, despite signings made to replace him.
Hume signed for Pompey from Sunderland last year and has gone onto make 20 League One appearances in a season and a half.
With Jack Sparkes coming in, there was clearly an expectation that the left back would be departing.
That being said, a move never came to pass and he remains at the club.
With Connor Ogilvie and Sparkes, it looks like Hume will be third choice at best.
It has been admitted that the Sparkes was signed from Exeter City with the expectation that the former Sunderland man would be gone.
John Mousinho isn’t losing any sleep over the deal however.
What has John Mousinho said about Denver Hume?
Sparkes was the first name on his mind when asked about the situation.
The Pompey boss said: “We brought Jack in to be our back-up left-back thinking Denver was going to go, so the situation is probably very, very similar to what we have seen.”
Despite not being the ideal situation, Mousinho looked for the silver lining: “You never know whether Denver will play for us.
“He is there as a squad member, was involved in a few pre-season games and obviously trains with us every day.”
The door is clearly open for Hume to return to the squad and make his mark.
He is left to play a game yet this season but, “I wouldn’t rule anything out, everybody knows what the situation is at the moment and we’ll handle that and go forward with it.”
It had been suggested there was a reason for the push towards Hume leaving the club.
Mousinho was keen to quash this rumour: “There’s no issue at all.”
Additional competition to the squad can only be a good thing and hopefully Hume can perform well.