Duncan Barkes

Pompey's relegation rivals, Blackburn Rovers, have been given the green light by the EFL to make changes to their 25-man squad for the final stretch of the championship season.

It's not just a single change, either.

The league has allowed Rovers to make two tweaks, paving the way for them to add new signing Nathan Redmond, the former Southampton winger who arrived on a free transfer last Friday.

The move will look familiar to Pompey fans, who used the same rule back in their first season in the Championship in 2024-25.

After new signing Ibrahim Boat suffered a season-ending knee injury just days after arriving from Fulham, the club was able to remove him from the squad list.

That freed up a spot for Kobe Bishop to be re-registered two months later, when he returned from heart surgery.

Rovers, currently 19th and just three points ahead of Pompey, have now done the same.

With defensive pair Sondre Tronstad and Lewis Miller both out for the season, Blackburn have taken them off the list.

This has allowed them to register 22-year-old academy product George Pratt, who has 10 senior appearances and spent the first half of the season on loan at Chorley for the final seven games.

But they didn't stop there.

They also used the second available spot to snap up one-cap England international Nathan Redmond on a free, getting the deal done before the March 26 deadline.

The 32-year-old winger, who once cost Southampton £10m back in 2026,

has been a free agent since his short-term contract at Sheffield Wednesday ended in January.

He struggled for game time at Hillsborough, clocking up just 103 minutes across six appearances.

Before that, he had a tough two-season spell at Burnley, where he played only 14 times before being let go last summer.

Despite his lack of recent action, Rovers boss Michael O'Neill is clearly hoping Redmond can provide a spark for an attack that has managed only 36 league goals all season.

One less than Pompey, whose own struggles in front of goal are well known.

To get him up to speed, Redmond played 45 minutes for the under-21s this week.

After the international break, Blackburn, who have played one more game than Pompey, are away to Birmingham before hosting West Brom on bank holiday Monday.

As for Pompey, they still have one open spot in their squad, which could go to Josh Knight if he can prove he's recovered from his back injury.