'He's exciting': Portsmouth's newest starlet backed to dazzle after eye-catching entrance

It took just 17 minutes for Pompey’s new young hope to stamp his mark - and Harry Clout has been backed to flourish following his first-team elevation.

Having sat out the opening friendly at Woking through illness, the 18-year-old returned to John Mousinho’s squad for last night’s trip to Farnborough.

Introduced at the break as the Blues made 11 changes, Clout announced his arrival with a 62nd-minute goal, having calmly converted Adrian Segecic’s pull-back from the right with a first-time left-footed finish.

The attacker recently became the first Academy graduate in two years to earn first-year professional terms, having impressed Mousinho.

And Academy lead professional development phase coach Sam Hudson believes the ‘exciting winger’ can now maintain his encouraging development in the first-team environment.

‘Harry has earned the right to be with the first-team’

Hudson told The News: ‘We took Harry at under-16s and worked with him for two years, he’s a really exciting winger. First of all, it’s really pleasing he’s got a deal - now he has the hard job to keep his deal.

‘With Harry, the game which always stands out was the Youth Alliance Cup final against Preston (April 2024), where he played off the left. He’s really attacking, positive, carries the ball well, and, in one-v-one, he looks to just get at people.

‘The one thing we worked on him a lot was to fit John’s demands. In particular, pressing and high regains, being really aggressive. There's a big athletic demand with that. He can always cover ground for the under-18s really well, now the challenge is to cover for the first-team.

‘As a winger, it’s always quite challenging because you might not have as much success with your dribbling or your crossing or shots, but it’s about perseverance. Most dribbles are a 50 per cent success rate, so you must keep going again and again and again.

‘That is something he will definitely have to readjust to with the first-team. He had got to a level where he was confident with the under-18s, yet the jump is now obviously huge to a Championship first-team and training with them every day.

‘I’m sure it will take a bit of time, but if he keeps persevering and, ultimately, doesn't stop what he was good at, such as carrying the ball, getting at people and being positive with his actions, then I am certain he will be fine.

‘Harry’s earned the right for now, but he has to earn the right every day to continuously get deals - that’s what the job is.’

Portsmouth’s first graduate into the first-team for two years

In terms of Clout’s Academy predecessors, Toby Steward signed first-year professional terms in February 2023 while still a second-year scholar.

At the end of that 2022-23 season, defender Josh Dockerill also graduated into Mousinho’s first-team, only to suffer a season-ending ACL injury in July 2023 during a pre-season friendly at Gosport.

However, in the two years since, only Clout has emerged from the Academy to earn professional terms.

The only member of last season’s five Academy graduates to win deal

Hudson added: ‘The staff have put in an immense amount of time, effort and hours behind the scenes.

‘Since Toby Steward and Josh Dockerill, we hadn’t had anyone sign professional forms until Harry, although a couple went to other clubs. Koby (Mottoh) went to Bournemouth and Bastian (Smith) went to Peterborough on professional deals.

‘We only had five second years last season as well. So to get one out of five is 20 per cent, which is a good way to look at it from our perspective.’

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