'We'll get him back to the player he was': Portsmouth boss vows to reignite Florian Bianchini's career after Swansea troubles

John Mousinho has pledged to roll back Florian Bianchini’s career 12 months and rediscover the scintillating form which persuaded Swansea to splash out £1.95m last summer.

The French attacker has arrived at Fratton Park with a point to prove having fallen out of favour with their Championship rivals after just one season in Wales.

A return of five goals and four assists in 29 outings for Ligue 2 side Bastia in 2023-24 convinced the Swans to sign him on a four-year deal in August 2024.

However, after 38 appearances last season, consisting of just eight league starts, and three goals, Bianchini has now linked up with Pompey on a season-long loan.

After just one Blues training session, he announced his arrival on Saturday by setting up Thomas Waddingham for an 89th-minute winner against PEC Zwolle in their final friendly of the summer.

And Mousiho is convinced that 20-minute cameo off the bench provided a tantalising glimpse of the 24-year-old's talents.

Mousinho: We can have a real threat on our hands

Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘Saturday was a really good impact in terms of coming in and providing an assist for the goal and it’s really pleasing to have Flo in the building now.

‘He’s been training with Swansea but, with the fact we've been looking to make the loan for a couple of weeks now and that is always bubbling away in the background, sometimes that means players aren’t quite where you need them to be. However, certainly in Flo’s case, it looks like he's right at it.

‘He signed for Swansea this time last year from Bastia and was a really good prospect in terms of the season he’d had previously.

‘At Swansea, he then had a decent year last year and played a lot as centre-forward, which he also played here at Fratton Park, which I don’t think is his position. But he still played plenty of games and chipped in with a couple of goals.

‘My overall take is if we can get him back to the player that Swansea signed then we have a real threat on our hands.

‘We had an extensive look at the work he did in France previous to making that move, when Swansea paid a good transfer fee for him. I think we can get him back to where he was. We saw some good glimpses on Saturday and, if we do, I think we’ve got a good player.’

24 appearances for Swansea as a centre-forward in 2024-25

Statistics show that 24 of Bianchini’s 38 appearances last term came as a centre-forward, yet he is earmarked for a wing role at Fratton Park.

Following the departure of Paddy Lane, Harvey’s Blair’s ongoing injury issues and Matt Ritchie not possessing a Blues future, Mousinho is desperate for right-sided options.

Although it was off the left, having switched from the right after Josh Murphy had been substituted, where he created Waddingham’s match winner.

‘We’ve certainly brought him in as a winger’

Mousinho added: ‘Probably the natural position for Flo is on the wing, we’ve certainly brought him in as a winger.

‘You saw against Zwolle when we made the change, we played him on both flanks and that’s certainly where we have decided to use him.

‘If you look back at the work he did in France, he has played off both sides and there’s a lot of flexibility in his game across those front three positions. That gives us a lot of flexibility in terms of what we are going to do as well.

‘On Saturday we saw what he can do on both sides. On the right-hand side, he picked up the ball early on, took on the left-back and earned us a corner.

‘The assist from the left was slightly different because he didn’t pick up the ball and beat anyone, but put himself into the correct position and provided a really good cross. We know he has that flexibility and adaptability.’

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