Portsmouth boss John Mousinho on why 'brilliant' Ibane Bowat was allowed to join Huddersfield
The defender made 18 appearances for the Blues after joining in September 2024 from Fulham
John Mousinho has revealed the reasons behind Ibane Bowat’s Fratton Park departure.
And, in a classy farewell, he thanked the defender for his pivotal role in keeping Pompey in the Championship last season.
Bowat’s long-anticipated Blues exit was finally completed on Wednesday, with a move to League One Huddersfield for an undisclosed fee.
It ended an eventful south-coast career for the ex-Fulham man, who missed the 2024-25 season through injury and totalled 18 appearances during his two years.
Crucially, he also claimed matchwinners against Blackburn (December 2025) and Leicester City (April 18) - and Mousinho is appreciative of Bowat’s efforts as a Pompey player.
‘Ibane scored two massive goals for us last season’
He told The News: ‘Ibane has done a brilliant job over the years, I wish him the best.
‘He left to get more game time, he deserves more game time. He couldn't quite break into the side as a regular starter and we’re in a position this year with the centre-backs that we are strong enough to let him go.
‘Ibane scored two massive goals for us last season - Leicester at home and Blackburn at home. I remember the Blackburn game, in particular.
‘We’d actually played well in the first half, but Blackburn had scored against the run of play and it was looking a bit gloomy at Fratton Park at the time considering the run we’d been on.
‘We were pretty poor after a really good league start and, after a really tough period, that Blackburn win actually kick-started us into a good little eight-game spell, punctuated by the Bristol City defeat on New Year’s Day.
‘Ibane played a huge role in that game, he played in the derby at Fratton Park, he played and scored the winner in maybe the most crucial win we had all season, which was Leicester at home.
‘That was another relegation rival - and, three days later, we ended up securing our status in the Championship.’
Congested centre-half battle at Fratton Park
With Pompey eager to reduce their centre-half numbers this summer, Bowat always represented an obvious departure.
Out of contract in the summer of 2027, the left-footed defender recognised the difficulty of getting regular Fratton Park football up against Conor Shaughnessy, Regan Poole, Madiodio Dia, Hayden Matthews and Josh Knight.
Now he has signed for Huddersfield on a three-year deal, where he will challenge former Blues favourite Jack Whatmough for a regular centre-half spot.
Mousinho added: ‘Ibane deserves it and it was very amicable.
‘Ibane played through pre-season and, when the deal was almost done, rather than us making him come and train here and going away to Darmstadt, we wanted to ensure he got everything right at Huddersfield. So we gave him a bit of time off to do that.
‘I think Ibane will be successful at Huddersfield.’
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