Portsmouth chief executive Mark Catlin has admitted the club's decision to prioritise promotion this season could see them lose out-of-contract players over the summer.

The south-coast club are currently languishing at 13th in the League One table after winning just five league games so far, but Catlin has now claimed that promotion is still the aim for Kenny Jackett's side with all first-team contract talks on hold for now.

Pompey first implemented this policy during their promotion-winning season in the 2016/17 campaign, but it now sees the club run the risk of losing 10 players this summer including Ronan Curtis, Christian Burgess and Brett Pitman.

These players have featured regularly in Jackett's plans so far this term, which means a number of the club's most-important performers are now facing an uncertain future at Fratton Park, but Catlin appears convinced this is the correct approach to follow.

"This season is a case of “Lads, get your heads down, get us promoted," he told Portsmouth News.

"If we lose one or two players at the end of the campaign, which we don’t want to, well that’s a risk we are going to have to take. If we gave those we don’t want to lose a contract at this moment, it becomes destabilising for the rest of the team – and it is a team game.

‘That was the philosophy we adopted in the year promoted under Paul Cook and it's the one we are going to be adopting from now until the end of the season."

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The Verdict

It makes sense that Pompey are following this strategy given that it has helped them achieve promotion previously, but it seems to be a considerable risk given the volume of players who could now leave the club in the summer.

The fact this contract approach has been made public means these players will be well aware of the situation, but this will not stop them from feeling uncertain about their future which could have negative repercussions on the side.

However, it may also be the case that these players now have even more incentive to fight for their futures, and this could see an improvement on performances to help Pompey seal promotion.

This would make the strategy a success, but it still remains to be seen which way it will go.