Portsmouth boss addresses defender's Fratton Park future amid Bradford loan frustration
The highly-rated Australian international has played four times since New Year’s Day
Hayden Matthews definitely has a Pompey future, according to John Mousinho.
Although the central defender is still awaiting his first League One involvement with loan club Bradford.
The Bantams top the table ahead of second-placed Sheffield Wednesday after registering five clean sheets in their opening seven league fixtures.
Although Graham Alexander’s side operate with a back three, perhaps understandably there is no room for Matthews at present following his season-long move to Valley Parade.
The Australian hasn’t been included in any of the five League One squads since his arrival, although on Tuesday night he did start their Vertu Trophy win over Newcastle Under-21s.
Regardless, Mousinho feels the loan switch will benefit a player in desperate need of regular football after his injury-hampered time at Fratton Park.
‘He needs games, we have high hopes for Hayden’
Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘We had four centre-backs competing for the spots and when Connor Ogilvie comes back he can play there as well, so we just wanted to get Hayden minutes.
‘His future is at Pompey, but obviously we’ll see what it’s like in January. Hopefully he’ll get some minutes when he goes out and plays for Bradford and we will go from there.
‘He needs games, we’ve got high hopes for Hayden, we don’t want him to exit the club permanently, we want to see him back here, but he’s never had a proper run of games here for a number of reasons, mainly injury, so we want to get him some.
‘There was a lot of interest in him, Bradford are a very competitive League One side, it's going to be a very, very good development for him in terms of learning from a really good manager.
‘Bradford is a big, big club as well in terms of the way they are set up. So I think it will be a really good loan for him.’
Four appearances since New Year’s Day
Matthews’ two outings for Bradford so far have both arrived in cup competitions - and resulted in victories.
He started a Carabao Cup clash with Leyton Orient earlier this month, featuring for 62 minutes in the Bantams’ 3-1 success.
Then, on Tuesday evening, he was named in the centre of a back three against Newcastle Under-21s, spending 68 minutes on the pitch in a 2-1 victory.
Such has been the extent of Matthews’ injury problems, he has totalled just four matches since damaging his ankle on New Year’s Day at Bristol City.
After returning from that set-back, he ended the 2025-26 season in Pompey’s side, starting against Stoke and Birmingham in the final two games.
That prompted a call-up to a pre-World Cup training camp with Australia in May, only to collect another injury, thereby ending hopes of making the Socceroos team for the summer tournament.
However, Matthews came through Pompey’s pre-season unscathed, playing regularly in the friendly schedule, while was an unused substitute on the opening day against West Ham.
Yet with just 20 appearances since arriving from Sydney FC in January 2025, the 22-year-old desperately requires more first-team matches to maintain his promising development.