John Mousinho hails 'brilliant' Charlton man - and reveals why Portsmouth didn't sign him this summer
Charlton's summer signing featured 21 times for the Blues last season on loan to help them avoid relegation
John Mousinho has praised ‘brilliant’ Milli Alli’s Pompey stay - and explained why he decided against signing him.
The Blues are set to face their former player at Charlton tomorrow, with the left winger having completed a £1.5m summer switch from Luton.
Pompey had turned to the 26-year-old in January on loan to bolster their wing options in the ongoing injury absence of Josh Murphy, Harvey Blair and Franco Umeh.
Certainly it was a blistering start to life at Fratton Park for Alli, building on an impressive debut at Sheffield Wednesday to total 21 games and one goal.
However, his performances dipped considerably as his loan spell wore on and very few supporters were calling for a permanent deal upon its expiry.
Regardless, Mousinho believes there are mitigating factors behind Alli’s significant form drop during his time at Fratton Park.
‘Milli was absolutely brilliant for us, he did a brilliant job ‘
The Blues’ head coach told The News: ‘I reckon after 3-4 weeks everyone was thinking why the hell haven’t we got the option on this player!
‘Milli was absolutely brilliant for us, he did a brilliant job coming in from a lower division and had a massive impact. People probably forget the impact he had at the start.
‘We were working with the player every day and sometimes with wingers you get the really top performances and sometimes they don’t quite match up to where they have been in the past.
‘Overall, Milli was brilliant for the football club and I was very, very grateful for the impact he had. Without him coming in and doing what he did, we’d have been in a different spot at the back end of the season.
‘One of the problems we had with Milli was - for want of a better phrase - we flogged him to death. We didn’t have any other options on the left wing at the time.
‘His first match was at Sheffield Wednesday and we ended it with Segs on the left and Terry Devlin on the right as a winger. That’s where we were at the time with wingers, we never had anybody.
‘As soon as Milli was up to speed to play 90 minutes, we had to play him every single week. It wasn’t until the back end where we had the option to maybe change that around a bit.
‘Gus (Caballero) got up to scratch, then Murph came back towards the back end, Keshi as well in parts, so we had a couple of different options out there on the left.
‘But, overall, we had to go again, again, again and again with Milli - and I don’t think that was particularly fair on him from a physical aspect.’
Of Alli’s 21 appearances, 19 were in the starting XI, reflecting his regular presence in a side which ultimately avoided relegation with two matches to spare.
Surplus to requirements at parent club Luton, there was the opportunity for Pompey to explore his permanent return in the summer.
‘It was one we looked at, one we explored’
And while Mousinho admits it was considered, he has explained why the Blues didn’t pursue bringing Alli back to the south coast.
He added: ‘It was one we looked at, one we explored, but we never properly went beyond that stage.
‘The main reason was because we had Murph and Keshi as our two left-wing options as permanents in the building, which we are really happy with.
‘Milli’s a lovely lad to work with, nice kid, so I wish him all the best. Apart from this weekend.’