Birmingham City swoop for Portsmouth's John Mousinho pondered - mystery EFL club are keen | OneFootball

Birmingham City have been tipped to avoid a move for Portsmouth boss John Mousinho.

Portsmouth manager John Mousinho is a wanted man this summer, with Bristol City and another unnamed Championship club pursuing his services ahead of the new season.

The former Oxford United midfielder has been in charge of the Hampshire side since 2023, where he guided them to the League One title in 2024 and managed to keep Pompey in the Championship the following two years.

Having flirted with relegation all season, Pompey managed to steer clear of the drop by winning three of their last five games, earning themselves an 18th place finish.

This has seen Mousinho become the subject of interest from elsewhere, with Bristol City long-term admirers of the 40-year-old and another unnamed Championship side - who currently have a manager in place - also registering interest in him, according to The Portsmouth News.

Speculation has arisen as to who that second club could be, and given Birmingham City head coach Chris Davies' future has been talked about a lot in recent months, could it be Blues who are potentially looking into the appointment of the ex-PFA chairman?

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With Birmingham potentially being the club with a manager that could be eyeing Mousinho up, FLW spoke to their resident Blues fan pundit, Jason Moore, about whether he would be a good appointment for the club.

"I don't actually mind the Mousinho shout," Jason told FLW.

"I think he's at a Portsmouth where he's not backed well, and it's not a very good squad, so I think he's doing wonders with what he's got to be fair to him.

"I'd be surprised if that's where Blues were to look if they were to get rid of Davies.

"It potentially looks like a smart appointment if they were to go down that route, but I just don't see them going down that route.

"If they were to replace Davies, I think they would want to get someone in that's proven to get teams out of the Championship.

"They've made no secret of it [the Birmingham board], they're in a rush to get to the Premier League.

"I don't actually mind Mousinho, I wouldn't mind him coming in to replace Davies as I quite like him, but I just don't see that being the route that the club goes down - as much as I do rate Mousinho," Jason concluded.

Birmingham City may look for a more experienced manager than John Mousinho

It's undeniable that Mousinho is an excellent manager. The job he's done at Portsmouth to get them back into the Championship and keep them there in what is his first head coach role is nothing short of remarkable.

However, it's also clear, as Jason mentioned, that Birmingham want to be in the Premier League as soon as possible, and if they do part ways with Davies, they'll be looking for a proven promotion winner to help them achieve that goal.

With Mousinho in a similar bracket to Davies as a young project manager, it's unlikely that Blues will spend money to sack Davies just to bring in someone at a very similar stage in his career.

Birmingham had hoped to compete towards the very top of the Championship at the start of the season, but missed out on a play-off spot which saw the pressure heaped on their current boss - Davies' job looked safe heading out of the 2025-26 campaign, but could the Blues hierarchy still make a change before the summer transfer chaos begins? Only time will tell.