Portsmouth winger allowed to leave Fratton Park on loan

Pompey youngster Harry Clout is heading back out on loan.

The winger, who has made one senior appearance for the Blues, has joined Isthmian League premier division side Welling United on a temporary basis.

The 19-year-old moves to Park View Road until January 3, following a brief stint at National League South side Farnborough at the beginning of the season.

Welling currently sit 20th in the table following nine defeats from their 12 league games to date. That poor start to the season saw manager Lee Martin sacked at the begining of the month, with Rob Stringer currently in charge on an interim basis.

Clout could make his debut for the Wings on Saturday when they take on Brentwood in the FA Trophy (3pm).

Harry Clout’s Pompey development

The Pompey Academy graduate signed his first professional deal at Fratton Park in July. That reward came after the teenager made his senior Blues debut as a substitute in January’s third-round FA Cup defeat at the hands of Wycombe Wanderers at Adams Park.

It also saw him travel with John Mousinho’s first-team squad to Croatia for their pre-season training camp, with the left-sided player going on to feature five times for the Blues in the build-up to their current Championship campaign.

That included an appearance and goal in the 5-0 pre-season win against Farnborough, which prompted Clout’s loan move to the Yellows. He went on to make eight substitute appearances for Spencer Day’s side but returned to Fratton Park earlier this month.

John Mousinho on Harry Clout

Speaking about Clout’s move to Farnborough last month, Mousinho said: ‘Harry is doing okay. He hasn’t started games for Farnborough as of yet, so we are monitoring that, we are keeping an eye on what he does.

‘The loan is for game time. He had a decent pre-season with us, it’s about getting him games and exposure at a good level and National South for us is a really good level. Their manager wanted him off the back of seeing him pre-season.

‘I’m not concerned, It’s a long old season, there’s no rush there, it’s about being patient.

‘Some of the loans we’ve got here, we are really confident about where they are going forward, but some of them are taking a minute to adjust to the system. I am sure the same is there for Harry and Farnborough.

‘It’s hybrid training for him at the minute, so he trains sometimes with them and other occasions with us, but he has definitely improved and to have that interest from that level is really positive.’

As well as making his debut against Wycombe in January, Clout was also named on the bench for three Championship games last season.

He’s been allowed to leave Fratton Park on loan again, despite Adrian Segecic damaging his ankle in Tuesday night’s defeat to Coventry City and Callum Lang continuing his recovery from a hamstring injury.

Josh Murphy has also missed Pompey’s past six games with an ankle problem, but is expected to make the bench for Saturday’s lunchtime game against Stoke City.

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