Portsmouth boss on summer signing's first-team future after suffering double snub in-latest set-back
The South African has featured his 10 times since his July 2025 arrival from Swedish club IFK Varnamo
John Mousinho has reassured Luke Le Roux he has a Pompey first-team future after suffering a double snub.
The 25-year-old has struggled to gain a foothold in the Blues’ starting XI this season, featuring just 10 times - and last weekend’s Hillsborough trip represented his latest body blow.
Having started against Arsenal in the FA Cup, Le Roux was subsequently dropped against Sheffield Wednesday, with right-back Zak Swanson instead surprisingly handed his central midfield berth.
To add to the summer signing’s disappointment, new recruit Ebou Adams was introduced from the bench in the 56th minute to replace Swanson in that role, leaving the former IFK Varnamo man unused in the subsequent 1-0 victory.
And with Adams set to start against Watford tonight (7.45pm) for his full debut, the unfortunate Le Roux finds himself distanced even further from Pompey first-team reckoning.
‘We wanted to be a bit more in-possession focused’
Mousinho told The News: ‘Luke is naturally more of a six, although we played him as an eight against Arsenal to be a bit more out-of-possession focused.
‘We thought that, against Sheffield Wednesday, we would maybe have a bit more of the ball, which we did. We wanted to be a bit more in-possession focused and Zak technically shows all the attributes of being able to play in there.
‘I suppose one of the strange things, and it happens in football, is as soon as Zak moved to left-back, he still picked the ball up in the same positions as he’d been doing as an eight, because we asked him to be a bit narrow and a little more inverted.
‘He just started to make better decisions and, as soon as he moved there, I thought he was one of the best players on the pitch.
‘We had that option to bring Ebou off the bench and I actually think putting him on and Zak slotting to left-back, probably changed the game for the better. We gained a lot more control from both of those substitutions and went on to win the game.
‘We’ve always said with Luke, he is probably more competing for that spot as a six. We’ve had plenty of injury issues in there as well, so we’ve just got to keep his head down.
‘He needs to keep trying to work his way back into the side and, when he gets his chance, give it everything he’s possibly got to try to stake a claim.’
New signing set to start at Watford
Mousinho admits he tried to sign The Gambia international two years ago, while Blues sporting director Rich Hughes had previously recruited him from non-league Ebbsfleet in June 2019 while at Forest Green Rovers.
Adams was eased into Pompey first-team action at Hillsborough, but he is now expected to start tonight at Vicarage Road.
Mousinho added: ‘Ebou was ready to start at the weekend in terms of match fitness, it was just the fact he’d had such a whirlwind Friday, with probably about four hours sleep in between travelling down from Derby and getting his medical.
‘It would also have been really stupid for us to throw him straight in after travelling on Friday, as it took us a long time to get to Sheffield.’