Pompey not giving up on Caolan Lavery

And Mark Catlin insists negotiations with Sheffield Wednesday are ‘ongoing’.

The four-goal striker returned to his parent club last week at the end of a three-month loan spell.

During that time Lavery impressed for the Blues, forging a productive link-up with fellow loanee Marc McNulty.

Paul Cook was eager for the 23-year-old to remain and talks were opened with the Owls over retaining him until the season’s end.

However, the Championship club have applied the brakes to any potential deal for a player out of contract this summer.

Yet Pompey’s chief executive has revealed talks are continuing.

Catlin said: ‘Caolan has gone back to his host club Sheffield Wednesday, which was disappointing as he fitted in well here.

‘Paul was looking to extend his stay and we remain in active dialogue with them.

‘The situation is ongoing, so we will see how that progresses.

‘It would be nice to get some of Paul’s potential targets in January, either as a loan until the end of the season or signing as an official Pompey player.

‘However, when the window shuts at the end of January, it only does so for a week and then there’s the emergency loan window.’

Lavery scored four goals in 13 matches during his time with the Blues.

However, he has yet to feature in a single minute of Sheffield Wednesday’s promising campaign.

The forward was back training with the Owls on Thursday last week.

Regardless, he failed to make their match-day 18 for Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Leeds which left them sixth.