Boss Kieran McKenna says decisions on whether to recall loan players such as Conor Chaplin, who has spent the first half of the season with his hometown side Portsmouth, the Blues’ opposition on Sunday, will be made when the squad as a whole is assessed after the weekend, the January transfer window having opened yesterday.

Chaplin, 28, made a surprise deadline day return to Pompey, the club where he started his career, but with Town stressing at the time that the deal included a January recall clause.

Asked whether there had been any talks regarding bringing one of the Blues’ double-promotion heroes back to Portman Road, McKenna says it would be wrong to say there had been no talks but that those situations would be addressed after the match at Fratton Park, for which Chaplin is ineligible.

“The whole squad at the moment and assessments on what we want to do, ins or outs and the balance of the squad, it’s after Sunday, to be honest,” he said.

“Of course, the club’s working hard behind the scenes but this has been such a busy run of games, things can change just like that.

“So really, I know we’ll get to Sunday and we’ll look at the whole block of games and look at the four months since September and assess the group and where we think we could make any additions, where we might want to be a little bit tighter in the group and, of course, players you have on loan will be part of those discussions.

“But really they’re for getting through this last league fixture and then we’ll assess everything.”

Chaplin’s spell with Pompey, who are only a point off the relegation zone, has been underwhelming up to now, the 28-year-old having made 14 starts and five sub appearances without scoring.

While latterly operating in his favoured number 10 position, the one-time Barnsley and Coventry man was often utilised wide on the right shortly after his return to Fratton Park.

Speaking three weeks ago, Pompey boss John Mousinho was keen to keep Chaplin for the second half of the season.

“I know Chappers is constantly pushing himself to increase his attacking output and contributing, in terms of goals and assists,” he told Portsmouth.co.uk. “That is a big focus for us going into the weekend, particularly with Conor.

“He got a shot off early [at Swansea] which tested [Lawrence] Vigouroux when we broke and there was one where we would have maybe liked him to have taken it on his left foot.

“When we’re in those positions, a confident Conor Chaplin playing at the top of his game in the Championship will test the goalkeeper, at least.

“It’s just ongoing [with Town over his future] because that moment hasn’t arrived. That day hasn’t come yet, but we’ll keep in contact and we have really good contact with everyone there at the club, so we’ll make sure we stay in touch. We want him to stay.”

The Blues have four other senior players out on loan, but seem unlikely to want to bring back keepers Aro Muric and Cieran Slicker from Sassuolo and Barnet respectively or striker Ali Al-Hamadi from Luton.

Chieo Ogbene is reportedly not in Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder’s plans, however, it was stated that there was no recall clause in the deal when the Irish international, who has been out with a hamstring injury, joined the Blades.

As is the case with Chaplin, Ogbene would not be able to play for another club this season having featured for the Blues and their loan side during 2025/26.

Photo: Matchday Images