Portsmouth will be ‘open minded’ about the prospect of re-signing Hayden Carter this summer.

Carter impressed during a 22-game spell with Pompey in the second half of the 2021/22 campaign, having done similar in League One with Burton Albion in 2020/21.

The 22-year-old is currently in training with Rovers and will be part of the squad that will be travelling to Portugal on Sunday. That will allow new head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson to assess his squad having taken over the reins at Ewood Park last week.

Portsmouth had floated the idea earlier in the window of making a permanent move for Carter, should he become available, even though the homegrown defender still has at least another two years to run.

Carter said he would be open to a return to Fratton Park should the opportunity arise, but his main focus was on impressing in pre-season at Rovers and become part of the first-team plans at Ewood Park in 2022/23.

He has played 13 times in all for Rovers since making his debut in July 2020, 10 of which came in the first half of last season.

Of the club’s interest, Cowley told the Portsmouth News: “I think we have to be open minded.

“No one can really read the situation, Blackburn didn’t have a manager until last week.

“He will naturally take some time to evaluate his squad, and we will see off the back of that.

“There’s no doubt off the back of how well Hayden did for us there will be a lot of interest in him, if Blackburn aren’t to keep him in and around their group.”

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