Credit: Imago / Portsmouth FC

Dan Plumley

Sat 22 March 2025 16:00, UK

Alexander Milosevic was recently signed for Portsmouth on a free transfer as John Mousinho desperately sought further defensive options.

The former Swedish international has not played this season and has been offered more time at Copnor Road to get his sharpness up to speed after signing a short-term deal at Fratton Park.

Milosevic, 33, was signed for nothing, but Portsmouth will have had to find the spare funds for his signing-on fee and wages when he arrived, having last played for AIK in his homeland.

Portsmouth tapped into ’emergency’ money for Milosevic

Portsmouth and Mousinho were in urgent need of defenders when they signed Milosevic, accounting for numerous injuries at the back.

Conor Shaughnessy, Hayden Matthews and Rob Atkinson are among the centre-halves sidelined at Fratton Park, the latter two having been signed in January to beef up an already depleted squad.

Dan Plumley, a football finance expert, has explained how clubs will have emergency funds set aside, such as those to cover Milosevic‘s salary until his short-term contract expires on 30 June.

“Clubs do plan. Whether or not the money needs to be used elsewhere, there’s always kind of an emergency fund, so to speak,” Plumley exclusively told Pompey News.

“Certainly in my mind, there should be at least. The recent signing Portsmouth made is an example of where it’s needed. Sometimes things happen that are outside of a club’s control, so it’s good to have some aside for desperate measures.

“It doesn’t always get used for player signings or wages, it can get swallowed up in other things as well. So it’s a fine balance, depending on what it’s for.”

Milosevic to make debut v Blackburn?

Mousinho has earmarked the upcoming contest against Blackburn Rovers at Fratton Park (29 March) as a target for Milosevic to regain enough sharpness to make his debut.

It is unlikely he will start, but at least provides a powerful option at the back and could be introduced should Pompey be protecting a narrow lead, as they often have done at Fratton this campaign.

The 33-year-old could do with the added experience of English football towards the run-in, having so far played in the Championship with Nottingham Forest in a brief spell in 2019.

With just eight games to go, the Blues are four points above the relegation places in the Championship and still have some tricky tests standing between them and certain safety.