Colby Bishop features: The clear winners from Portsmouth's summer transfer window so far | OneFootball

Pompey's transfer business so far will go down as a positive for much of their squad

Highlights

Portsmouth finally completed their journey back to the Championship after spending 12 seasons in the third and fourth tiers of English football.

They were the clear favourites throughout the vast majority of the 2023/24 season to lift the League One title and that's exactly what they did.

Having put in all the hard work to get there, John Mousinho's side will now want to cement themselves firmly back in the Championship, as they know only too well how hard it can be to get back.

With incomings and outgoings over the summer, particularly a transitional one like this one for Pompey, there will always be those who benefit and those who lose out. Here are three players who are the clear winners of Portsmouth's transfer window so far...

Colby Bishop

Colby Bishop has been the main man in town for a couple of seasons now, appearing in almost every League One game for Portsmouth since joining from Accrington Stanley in 2022 and managing back-to-back hauls of 20 goals or more.

Pompey commonly fielded a lone striker in Bishop last season and, despite him not having any Championship experience, have so far not opted to recruit any new competition for his role. This means he will still just have Kusini Yengi and Christian Saydee as recognised strikers vying for his place, with the attacking setup likely to be based predominately around Bishop.

Moreover, there have already been quality additions made in and around his position, with Josh Murphy coming in from Oxford United and Sam Silvera on loan from Middlesbrough, both of whom can play on either wing or behind a striker, which should lead to a steady stream of chances being created for Bishop.

The scene looks set for the 27-year-old to kick on and prove himself in the second tier.

Jordan Williams

One of the new faces on the block at Fratton Park is defender Jordan Williams, who joined on a free transfer from Barnsley this summer.

The 24-year-old has been a key figure at Oakwell for the past couple of seasons, despite his relative youth, and consistently featured for the Tykes prior to those two campaigns, back when the club were a Championship side. He was also captain throughout 2023/24.

Commanding such authority and boasting such experience in the defensive unit at Williams' age is a clear indicator that he was perhaps operating at a level below where he needed to be.

He almost ascended to new heights with Barnsley last season, having managed to reach the play-offs following defeat in the final the season before, but the side he captained in both semi-final games this year against Bolton Wanderers were defeated over two legs.

A clear winner of Portsmouth's transfer window, he now gets another shot at the second tier anyway, despite missing out on promotion with the Tykes.

Will Norris

Pompey had the third-best defensive record in the league last campaign, in terms of goals conceded, and the man between the sticks for every single one of their League One games, Will Norris, played a vital role in that.

Despite a strong third-tier showing, the 30-year-old has only played one Championship game through the entirety of his career. With the club entering a strong second-flight field and needing to establish themselves there, you'd be forgiven for feeling as though funds were needed to shore up this position.

With that in mind, the fact that Pompey have so far only elected to recruit the 31-year-old gloveman Jordan Archer, who has not played a full season since 2017/18, could be read as a show of faith in Norris.

Archer is clearly accustomed to sitting in reserve at this level, but he does boast more Championship experience than Norris. If they are the two goalkeepers that Pompey head into the new season with, it appears likely that Norris will get ample opportunity to prove himself in the second tier.

Rather than coming in as a replacement, it looks as though Archer has been recruited to challenge Norris as a fall-back option if the League One winner does not quite adjust to the new level.

It's a positive chain of events for Norris as he will get his chance at a new level, in the knowledge that the club backs his ability to make the step-up in the most vital of roles.