‘It’s ominous’: Clear Portsmouth call over future of Kusini Yengi as contract runs down

That’s the clear verdict of The News’ chief sports writer Neil Allen, who believes the Blues should cash in on the League One title winner this summer.

The 26-year-old has struggled in the Championship this term, having failed to score in his 12 league appearances to date.

Yengi has missed a large part of the campaign where he was sidelined for more than three months due to a hamstring problem, sustained while on international duty with Australia in November.

Following his comeback in March, the striker made two appearances before picking up another minor hamstring issue with the Socceroos.

Although the former Western Sydney Wanderers man missed the 1-0 triumph over Blackburn, he was fit and available against Millwall and Coventry last week, with John Mousinho putting his absence down to selection.

This paved the way for Thomas Waddingham to make his first start since his January arrival against the Sky Blues but missed Saturday’s game against Derby through injury. That allowed Yengi to return to the 20-man squad and came on in the final 11 minutes against the Rams.

The forward’s long-term future at Fratton Park remains unclear with his current two-year contract coming to a close at the end of the season. The Blues do have a 12-month option on his deal and that is something Allen believes the club should activate.

However, The News’ chief sports writer expects Pompey to cash in on Yengi this summer, should they maintain their Championship status.

Speaking in the latest episode of Pompey Talk, Allen said: ‘If you look at Waddingham, you’ve got to address the Yengi issue. Yengi has been fit (against Millwall and Coventry) and not made the squad. Instead, this young lad from Australia called Waddingham, who turned 20 last Saturday, is ahead of Kusini Yengi and even started against Coventry.

‘It’s ominous about Yengi, it really is. The manager clearly doesn’t trust him that much at the moment.

‘I’ve said this for a long time now, he’s an asset and they can cash in on him. So the natural thing to do - if you’re speaking from a business point of view - you would activate his 12-month option, keep him at the club and then sell him. He’s an asset, he’s bankable, he’s sellable. Surely they wouldn’t just release him in the summer when clubs in League One would definitely be looking at him because of how good he was in League One last year?

‘He’s an Australian international, he got 13 goals in League One last year - many off the bench, did really well with Pompey last season, has played in the Championship and clubs will be wanting him. Again, you would think Pompey would invoke the clause, keep him for another 12 months and then sell him.

‘They did that with Marcus Harness. He wanted to move on and the club thought we could cash in on him, activate his option, keep him here and then they sold him to Ipswich. It makes sense but I know people say get rid of him, don’t give him a new contract, don’t activate the option. Just cash in.’

Ryley Towler’s Pompey future also uncertain

Ryley Towler has also struggled for game time in recent weeks, despite Pompey’s injury woes at the heart of the defence.

Along with Yengi, Allen has made it clear that the centre-back’s future is also uncertain after struggling to make the squad in the past four squads.

He added: ‘It’s an obvious thing when players get constantly left on the bench, Towler is another one. Clearly the manager doesn’t rate him at this level, because he’s not included in the squad.

‘Against Coventry, he (Towler) travelled up as the 21st man so he was at the game. But, Mousinho was quite comfortable having no proper defenders on the bench and having the only defender there in Towler as the 21st man. Instead he had Terry Devlin and Marlon Pack as the options on the bench.’

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