Rejected ex-Portsmouth Academy youngster earns surprise move to Portugal top flight

An ex-Pompey Academy player has earned a move to Portugal’s top flight in a surprise transfer.

Koby Mottoh had featured five times in John Mousinho’s first-team as a second-year scholar in 2023-24, only for the Blues to decide against offering a professional contract upon his graduation.

He subsequently trialled at Bournemouth, who handed the promising winger a two-year deal in July 2024 and affiliated him with their under-21s side at the Vitality Stadium.

However, earlier this month the Cherries announced Mottoh was among 10 youngsters leaving at the end of their existing deals, including his release on their official retained list.

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Yet in fresh developments last night, according to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, Mottoh has now joined Portugal club Moreirense from Bournemouth.

Three-year deal

It is claimed the attacker has signed a three-year contract with the Primeira Liga club, who last season finished seventh.

The precise details of the transfer have yet to be made public, with the move still to be officially confirmed by the Cherries or Moreirense.

Nonetheless, it represents an intriguing move for Mottoh, who two years ago didn’t have a club after being shown the door by Pompey.

Mottoh made his Blues first-team debut as a substitute at Forest Green Rovers in the Carabao Cup in August 2023.

At the time the Academy winger was aged 16 and, over the next four months, he totalled five appearances in cup competitions, including two starts, although wasn’t involved in League One action.

However, an 11-minute outing off the bench against AFC Wimbledon in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy in December 2023 would prove to be his final involvement in Pompey’s squad.

At the season’s end, the 17-year-old joined 10 fellow second-year scholars in leaving Fratton Park, with none handed professional deals.

‘That’s the skill of it - and sometimes you get them wrong’

Following Mottoh’s release in May 2024, Mousinho told The News: ‘In a weird way, we want Koby to prove us wrong because he’s a really good kid who has been part of the first-team squad this season and done really well for a 17-year-old.

‘They are difficult decisions to make because a 17-year-old versus the 23-year-old version of Koby could be very, very different.

‘You never know what’s going to go on with the player, but we need to look at it as a whole and ask do we think that, at some point, he’s going to be able to come in and affect the first-team?

‘That’s the skill of it - and sometimes you get them wrong.’

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