Ex-Liverpool winger now in 'defining period' of 'bumpy' Pompey career - with all eyes on teamsheet for Millwall

Harvey Blair is entering a ‘defining period’ in his ‘bumpy’ Pompey career.

That’s the verdict of The News’ Jordan Cross as the Fratton faithful wait to see if the former Liverpool winger is included in John Mousinho’s match-day squad for today’s Championship game at Millwall.

It’s a game that has long been earmarked for the 22-year-old’s latest return from injury, with a hip flexor issue suffered in the Blues’ FA Cup defeat to Arsenal on January 11 keeping him out for the past seven matches.

However, there’s no guarantee Blair will be involved. The forward was left out of the 25-man squad list Pompey submitted to the EFL following the closure of the transfer window and told: prove your fitness.

Indeed, after adopting a hard-line stance, boss John Mousinho remains reluctant to hand a squad place to any of those he has fitness concerns about between now and the end of the season. That explains his decision to take up just 23 of the 25 spots available to him and the reason why Blair, Florian Bianchini and Josh Knight were not included.

The Blues remain big fans of Blair, who was bought from Liverpool for £300,000 in August 24.

But with the winger making just 20 appearances since then and limited to just eight so far this season because of injury, there’s a sense that patience is beginning to run thin. And according to Cross, now is the time for the attacker, whose contract expires in June 2027, to finally stand up and be counted.

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Blair ‘needs to be deep ready and ready to be relied upon’

Speaking in the latest episode of Pompey Talk, the Blues writer said: ‘It's a defining period for Harvey Blair's bumpy career. John Mousinho (has been) pretty much straight talking about the questions about him obviously, with him not being named in the squad list.

‘It was kind of one of the raised eyebrow moments, and he said that, Harvey Blair, as soon as he thinks he's ready, he'll be straight back on that list.

‘But he's got to be deep ready and ready to be relied on - not just for a week or two, but actually consistently showing that he's robust enough because he's had a long line of injury issues.

‘(That’s been) really annoying, actually, because the latest one came when showing decent form in that Arsenal game. He was actually probably one of the better players that day.

‘He’s a good lad. He's a very nice, grounded young lad. I’ve spoken to him quite a lot now. You kind of think these kind of lads coming out of the under-21 Premier League academies might have a little bit of a swagger and be a little bit cocky. He's not that. He's not that at all.

‘He just needs to kind of answer the questions that are on him now.

‘ When you ask John (questions about the likes of Florian Bianchini, Jacob Farrell and Blair), he's polite, but then you do a follow-up question and he gives you one or two-word answers, it's quite revealing that. He’s like: “I don't want to really talk about these guys all the time. They're not around. They're not showing me what they need.”

‘So when he starts believing about that, that's what Harvey Blair has to show to him.’

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