Luke Le Roux’s future remains up in the air, despite Pompey’s willingness to let the midfielder leave Fratton Park

John Mousinho has cast doubt on a potential Pompey exit for Luke Le Roux before the transfer window shuts.

The Blues boss admitted there’s currently no concrete interest in the midfielder, who was told last month he was free to leave Fratton Park.

A £1m signing from IF Varnamo last summer on a three-year deal, the 26-year-old has consistently found himself on the fringes of the first team and unable to force his way into Mousinho’s plans.

The South Africa international made just 17 appearances in all competitions last season, including seven Championship starts, despite remaining injury free for the whole campaign.

And that sparse usage of his availability has continued into this season, even though Pompey have been crying out for a defensive midfielder.

Regardless of his start against West Ham in the Carabao Cup, Le Roux remained on the bench for the Championship defeat against QPR at Fratton Park before being left out of Pompey’s match-day squad completely for their win against Lincoln City last Saturday.

His place in the squad was taken up by Marlon Pack, who produced a man-of-the-match display on his return to action following knee surgery.

And with the Blues still keen to add to their defensive midfield options before the transfer window closes at 11pm on Tuesday, September 1, Le Roux is poised to drop further down the pecking order.

That’s going to restrict his game time even further, unless serious interest in the player emerges over the next eight days.

At this present moment in time, though, Mousinho is unsure whether an option to move Le Roux on, either permanently or on loan, will surface.

Speaking to The News, the Pompey boss said: ‘He (Le Roux) was here at Lincoln, he was just not selected for the squad.

‘(In terms of his future) there’s nothing we’ve got concrete. He’s in and around the squad in terms of being selected, we’ll see how that is over the next week.

‘Marlon coming back probably doesn't help in terms of getting into the side. We’ll see what we do with sixes this week.’

Pompey need to cut their playing numbers, which currently stands at 33 first-team players, in order to name a 25-man squad for their first half of their latest Championship season.

Any player who remains and is not included in that list provided to the EFL will be ineligible to play.

Earlier this month, reports from South Africa claimed clubs in Sweden and Belgium had been monitoring Le Roux’s Pompey situation.

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