Portsmouth chief executive Mark Catlin has suggested he wants the club to make the temporary moves of all four loan players currently at Fratton Park permanent when the transfer window reopens in the summer.

Sean Raggett and Ross McCrorie have been on loan with Pompey for the whole of the season so far, having joined from Norwich and Rangers respectively back in the summer.

Birmingham's Steve Seddon and Barnsley's Cameron McGeehan meanwhile, both made temporary moves to Fratton Park during the January transfer window.

All four of those players have had significant parts to play in Portsmouth's push for promotion to the Championship so far this season, leading to an apparent desire to make those moves permanent.

However, the current suspension of football for the foreseeable future, means that the 2019/20 campaign may not end until after those loan deals expire, leading to some uncertainty around the future of the quartet.

Speaking to the Portsmouth News about those four loan players, Catlin appeared to admit his desire to keep them at the club, despite the many issues that have still to be clarified, with the Pompey chief saying: "I think all of those lads in common with the team have done really well this year.

"The situation definitely remains under review - and I don’t think the current situation affects that. If the league continues, in regard to the contracts, all of that needs to be thought about.

"As loan players, their contracts tend to end on a certain date that was deemed to be the end of the season. Now it’s not the end of the season, potentially.

"All of that is still up for review at a much higher level than just Portsmouth Football Club. That applies for all clubs."

Portsmouth are currently fourth in the League One table, two points adrift of the automatic promotion places, with nine games of their regular league season still to be played at some point.

The Verdict

This is an interesting one, and it is a situation that seems to leave you going round in circles somewhat.

Given the impact that this quartet has had for Portsmouth so far this season, you can understand why they would want to extend the deals of those players.

Indeed, given they have agreed deals for these four players until the end of the season, you feel they should at least be entitled to retain their services until the campaign is completed, even if that means they remain with the club beyond the point at which their loans were set to expire.

Ironically, winning promotion to the Championship this season would likely help their cause when it comes to making these deals permanent, and keeping these loan players with the club for the rest of the campaign would surely help them to win that promotion as well.