LATEST: Portsmouth boss details plan after sealing signing with ‘massive potential’
Pompey have landed a player who potentially has a huge future in the game.
But John Mousinho explained the likelihood is Reuben Swann will continue to learn his craft away from Fratton Park next season.
The Blues completed the midfielder’s leftfield arrival from AFC Sudbury last week, with the 18-year-old signing on a two-year deal with a club option to extend his stay for 12 months.
Swann impressed on trial with Pompey last year, before being hit with knee injury which slowed his progress.
The Blues were keen to revisit a deal for the former Colchester youngster, however, for a player Mousinho feels has the attributes to make his mark at PO4.
He said: ‘Reuben’s a powerful young lad and if you’d seen him you would’ve suspect he was 18. He’s a really good size and technically pretty good.
‘He’s got a huge amount to work on, but the biggest compliment I could give him is when he’s come into training sessions he’s fitted in and not looked out of place physically or technically.
‘I’m really excited for what the future holds for Reuben.
‘He’s a powerful box-to-box midfielder and I think we can keep developing him and have a really good player on our hands.’
‘Sudbury have got a really good record in recent seasons of bringing through players who’ve gone on to make their league debuts.
‘It just so happened that an agent we deal with on a couple of players was looking to take Reuben on and an opportunity came up to look at him in training.
‘So he came in and he trained with us for three days. He was 17 at the time but really fitted into the squad, so we thought it was something we’d like to do.
‘Reuben was then subsequently injured, and it took him a bit of time to get back fit and us get everything done properly on our side.
‘When we were able to do that last week we felt we’re bringing in a player with massive potential and huge upside in terms of development. He really fits the bill for that, so we’re delighted to have him.’
The pathway for Swann will probably entail a loan stay away from Pompey next term, to aid his development.
He first though has the chance to catch the eye in first-team training, and will be part of the group who travels to Croatia for their pre-season camp in the coming days.
Mousinho added: ‘Most likely (he’ll go out on loan), but you never know what could happen in pre-season.
‘He’ll be coming away to Croatia with us and we’ve got the three games against the non-league sides.’