Appleton commented that he may lose up to 18 players of his current squad in the 2012 summer transfer window as the club adapted to life back in League One. On 4 May, Portsmouth defender Jason Pearce joined Leeds United for a fee around £500,000, being the first player to leave the club. Next to leave was trainee Joel Ward, who joined Crystal Palace for a fee around £400,000, which followed by Stephen Henderson joining West Ham and Kelvin Etuhu joining Barnsley. Soon, Hayden Mullins and Aaron Mokoena were both to leave Portsmouth and joined Birmingham City and Wits University respectively.