'Don't' - Portsmouth boss makes Franco Umeh admission as Fratton faith wait to see former Crystal Palace youngster for first time
Pompey fans’ wait to see Franco Umeh in action is set to continue
Pompey fans have been told not to expect £500,000 summer signing Franco Umeh to be in the first-team picture any time soon.
That was the message from Blues boss John Mousinho as he confirmed Nicolas Schmid, Adrian Segecic and Callum Lang will all be available for Saturday’s game againsat Millwall at Fratton Park.
All three returned to full training this week following their respective injuries, with Lang set for his first involvement since suffering a hamstring injury against Norwich City and requiring surgery three months ago.
The wait for summer signing Umeh’s first appearance in a Pompey shirt goes on, though, with the former Crystal Palace winger still 4-6 weeks away from being in contention.
The 20-year-old Republic of Ireland under-21 international is yet to kick a ball for the Blues due to a longstanding hamstring injury. And while he’s due to take part in full training with the rest of his team-mates next week, Mousinho confirmed it won’t be until Christmas or possibly the new year before the Fratton faithful finally see him in action.
‘Don’t expect to see him any time soon’
Confirming the foward’s current fitness status, the Pompey head coach said: ‘Franco’s been out on the grass, doing pretty much everything but train. He’s joined in with a couple of the warm-up passing drills so will be back with us next week, so will be back with us fully from Monday onwards.
‘But we don’t expect to see him in a Portsmouth shirt any time soon. He’s been out for such a long time, so I suspect 4-6 weeks worth of training off the back of that.’
Umeh’s last competitive appearance came for Palace’s under-21s in a Premier League 2 game against Southampton in April. And while his Blues debut remains on hold, there’s better news on Harvey Blair’s availability.
Like Umeh, he’s not ready to return to the first-team fold just yet as he continues to fully recover from the hamstring injury he suffered on the final day of last season against Hull. But Mousinho said the former Liverpool wideman, who has made two appearances off the bench this season, isn’t that far away from resuming his Fratton Park career.
‘Harvey should be back with us at the back end of next week and he’ll be a bit quicker (than Umeh) once he gets back into that full rhythm of training,’ said Mousinho.