Former Pompey favourite Joe Morrell is set to make a Fratton Park comeback

Joe Morrell is heading back to Pompey.

That’s according to BBC Solent who are today reporting the 29-year-old will return to Fratton Park to be part of John Mousinho’s coaching team.

The former midfielder has been identified as Zesh Rehman’s successor following his departure as first-team development coach in December 2025, and will be in post ahead of Sunday’s south-coast derby at Southampton.

Morrell’s appointment comes just months after he left his interim role as Bristol City’s under-21 boss in July, a position he had held since April following his return to the Robins at the beginning of the year.

His return also represents a u-turn by the Wales international, who John Mousinho revealed in March turned down the role.

Confirming that decision, Morrell told The News in June: ‘Pompey did offer me a job with their first-team, but I wanted something different.

‘I had been there for a long time, I had rehabbed there, but it came down to the fact that I wanted to work in the academy. I have the time to be very deliberate about that, I don’t have to rush into a first-team set-up.

‘If I was aged 34-35, I might want to take a job in a first-team, but, in the here and now, it’s about being able to make loads of mistakes, learning and being able to coach loads. In a first-team environment you can’t because you aren’t the manager and actual time on the grass would be limited.

‘That was the rationale behind turning down Pompey, I needed something different at a different football club, trying to plan my path to become the best head coach I can.’

Morrell featured 105 for Pompey and was a key member of the Blues’ 2023-24 League One title-winning side following his arrival from Luton for an undisclosed fee in August 2021.

However, the Welshman was unable to feature in the final months of that memorable campaign after he sustained a knee injury at Oxford United.

He was also unable to play again for the Blues, with the injury picked up at the Kassam Stadium on January 30, 2024, forcing him to announce his retirement from playing in October 2025.

Speaking to The News last week, sporting director Rich Hughes said an appointment was imminent, without naming names.

He said: ‘We are in a position where the club will be announcing something very shortly. We want to go really quickly with things, but we also want to make sure we get things right.

‘We’re really pleased with the process we went through and the person we’re able to bring in. Hopefully that should be announced in the next few days to get something out there to the wider public.

‘We wanted to conduct a thorough process. Myself and John spoke a lot about what the role looked like, what worked when Zesh was here, what didn’t work when Zesh was here, how we can reshape the role and put together a process to identify that person and making sure we can skills test the individuals against the criteria we want to see.

‘Then we bring in someone who fits with what we want to do quickly and fits with where the football club is trying to take the individual development of players.’

Pompey are also currently looking to recruit a first-team set-piece analyst.

For your next Pompey read: ‘Really impressive’: Chelsea victory injects confidence into Portsmouth ahead of Southampton showdown