Former Charlton Athletic and West Ham United man offered path to Portsmouth deal

The midfielder remains with the Blues this summer after leaving Charlton.

And Cowley is ready to offer the former West Ham academy product a path into his senior set-up.

The 20-year-old is recovering from two muscle tears, which put paid to his first-team involvement.

But he has stayed at the club’s Roko training base to get fit, with Cowley keen to offer a deal as one of the young prospects he’s keen to develop.

He said: ‘Jay has never been away.

‘He picked up an injury at the end of his trial and we’re doing the right thing by him by helping him to rehab.

‘Once we’ve rehabbed him we’ll take another look at him.

‘He had a grade two tear at the top of his adductor and a grade one tear in his piriformis.

‘He was playing on with it, so he was either stupid or unbelievably brave - I’ll go for the latter!

‘We are very open-minded about what we can do with him.’