'It has taken time': Portsmouth boss on why £1m man's Fratton Park career is finally ready for lift off
The South African midfielder made his third Blues start in the draw with Wrexham
Luke Le Roux’s lengthy adjustment period is over - and John Mousinho is ready to ramp up the midfielder’s first-team involvement.
It represented his first appearance in seven matches, while only his third Pompey start since arriving from Swedish club IFK Varnamo in July for around £1m.
Mousinho admits it took time for Le Roux to come up to speed for the English game and adapt to Pompey’s demands.
Now he believes the 25-year-old is ready to step up his Fratton Park career.
Portsmouth boss: It was slightly more difficult for him to integrate
Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘Luke has waited patiently for his chance. He has taken a bit of a while to adjust and for us to make sure he’s bedded in and what we expect of him. It was a good game to bring him in and I thought he performed well.
‘As the game went on he got better and better. There were a couple of nervy moments in the first half, but he covered a lot of ground well and did his defensive duties very solidly.
‘I thought he was a different player in the second half, he grew without the game and started to dominate the individual battle in the middle of the park. He started to turn out on his back foot and play forward rather than play backwards. Once his confidence started growing in the game, we started to see some really good glimpses.
‘Naturally it has taken him time. Luke was one of those players who had been playing out in Sweden, their season was still going on and I guess that made it slightly more difficult for him to integrate.
‘All of a sudden he just stopped playing. He had 2-3 weeks worth of negotiations, travel, waiting for work permits and waiting for international clearance before he could actually come and train properly. So he’s had a really stop-start season.
‘It has taken him a little time to get his fitness levels up, a bit of time to adjust to the pace of the game and everything we’re after as well.
‘With Luke, there’s absolutely no rush, we wanted to take our time and make sure that, by the time he does come in, he knows exactly what we need.’
Seven Pompey appearances
Le Roux’s midweek outing took him to seven Pompey appearances this season, although his first since the end of September, when he lined up at Ipswich.
With Marlon Pack re-establishing himself in the Blues midfield, Le Roux found himself back on the bench, albeit not being called upon in the previous six fixtures.
Then he replaced the skipper against Wrexham - and it remains to be seen whether the South African is again preferred for Saturday’s trip to Hull (12.30pm).
‘Marlon is a brilliant captain to have around’
Mousinho added: ‘Marlon’s contribution to the football club won’t change because of what Luke does.
‘Marlon obviously wants to play as many games of football as possible, but he is very understanding of whatever decision we make and is a brilliant captain to have around.’
Your Next Pompey Read: Pompey boss' frustration after Blues suffer worrying Connor Ogilvie injury blow