Uncertainty around forgotten £1.95m Portsmouth winger remains ahead of Swansea reunion - but one thing is for sure
Pompey loanee Florian Bianchini hasn’t featured for Pompey since the turn of the year because of a knee injury
Forgotten forward Floran Bianchini is no closer to making his Pompey return.
Blues boss John Mousinho remains in the dark when the on-loan Swansea winger could make a potential Fratton Park comeback - or even if he will play again this season, with less than eight weeks of the campaign remaining.
The former £1.95m Bastia player has been absent for Pompey since the beginning of December, with the 24-year-old unavailable for selection by head coach John Mousinho over an 18-game period because of tendinitis in his knee.
Bianchini wouldn’t have been available for tonight’s game against parent club Swansea because of the conditions of his existing loan.
The fact that the Swans are in the city for another crucial Championship test for the Blues, it was only natural for his name to crop up in Pompey’s main pre-match press conference.
However, Mousinho wasn’t in a position to provide any positive progress on the player’s rehabilitation. In fact, he kept his response short by simply saying: ‘It’s the same situation for Flo.’
Bianchini adds to Pompey frustrations
That briefest of updates from Mousinho will come as a huge frustration for the Pompey boss. Not because Bianchini had been setting the world alight at Fratton Park ahead of his injury at the tail end of last year. He hadn’t - zero goals and just one assist from 11 appearances highlights that. As does that fact that only six of those run-outs came as Championship starts, with just one 90-minute appearance completed as well.
Instead, it’s the fact that the Frenchman is one of six attackers in the Blues’ first-team ranks who are currently absent because of injury and one of four wingers presently unavailable for team selection.
That shortfall means Pompey were able to name just three forward-minded players on their nine-man bench at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, limiting the options Mousinho had available to change the outcome of the game at Ewood Park.
Whether a fit Bianchini would have started or been called upon at some point amid an injury crisis that shows little sign of easing, we’ll never know.
Similar uncertainity exists on the subject of whether we’ll see the winger in a Pompey shirt again. After all, Bianchini was also left out of the Blues’ squad-list following the close of the January transfer window and is one of six loanees currently on Pompey’s books. Only five can be named in a match-day squad.
Meanwhile. there’s question marks over his future at Swansea, too. The Swans are on to their second new manager since the Frencham moved to Wales in the summer of 2024. And from what current boss Vitor Matos said last month, a decision will be made on his future in the near future.
Matos told the BBC: ‘I think it's something for the club to handle, in terms of relationships and in terms of the future with every party on that.
‘Let's see how it goes. (Portsmouth) need to assess that (injury) first, we need to assess that first, and then see what is the best solution.’
Amid all the uncertainty, there’s one thing you probably could say with certainity when all things are considered: it’s highly unlikely Pompey will look to make Bianchini’s Fratton Park stay a permanent arrangement come the end of the season.