Harvey Blair facing lengthy absence as Portsmouth boss details true horror of ex-Liverpool man's injury
The promising winger has made 12 appearances and scored once since joining from Liverpool
John Mousinho has revealed the true horror of Harvey Blair’s injury.
And the Blues head coach doesn’t anticipate the winger returning to action for ‘a couple of months’ as his lengthy absence absence continues.
The former Liverpool young star has been sidelined since May, having been on the receiving end of Sean McLoughlin’s tackle in the final match of the season against Hull.
The 16th-minute challenge earned the Irish defender a booking, while, such was the severity of the hamstring issue sustained by Blair means he is still out.
According to Mousinho, the tendon was very nearly torn off the bone - and similar to the injury sustained by Alex Robertson during training in January 2024.
And having been sidelined for approaching three months, it may not be until October at the very least before Blair can return.
‘It very, very nearly came off the bone’
Mousinho told The News: ‘Unfortunately, Harvey is still a couple of months away from anything.
‘The severity of the injury is a lot worse than we initially thought. This is something we have known for a while now, it was such a bad tear at the time that it’s going to take him a while to get back.
‘It very, very nearly came off the bone, very similar to Robbo as well. Harvey has already been out for three months, so when he does come back it’s going to take a bit of time as well.
‘It was a really frustrating one. We saw how well Harvey was doing and he actually did it in the tackle from Sean McLoughlin, he didn’t do it accelerating away.
‘It was a good cynical foul as far as we are concerned. You've just got to stop someone on the counter-attack, they needed the points at the time, we can live with that.
‘Unfortunately, in the mechanism of the challenge, Harvey has done his hamstring badly.’
At the time of his injury, the Blues had handed Blair a two-game run in the team on the right wing in place of Matt Ritchie, with Championship survival already secured.
Having bagged his maiden Pompey goal in the 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday, the 21-year-old retained his place for the following match against the Tigers, when injury struck.
The right wing is proving to be something of a concerning position heading into the new season, particularly as Ritchie no longer has a Fratton Park future, with his departure effectively mutually agreed.
With Blair injured and Ritchie out of favour, fit-again Paddy Lane is now an option, while Callum Lang operated there in last Saturday's 4-0 win over Reading in a pre-season friendly.
Summer recruit Adrian Segecic has also featured there on occasions during the summer schedule, although started against the Royals in the number 10 role.
‘We don’t really know when exactly’
In the meantime, Mousinho cannot put a precise comeback date on Blair, who joined the Blues in August 2024 for an undisclosed fee from Liverpool.
He added: ‘We don’t really know when he’ll be back exactly.
‘You are going to keep asking me - quite rightly, by the way - but I might keep fending it off because he is still not ready and not ready and not ready.
‘But that’s one we will just have to take our time over.’