LATEST: Adrian Segecic, Nico Schmid and Callum Lang Portsmouth injury return updates as boss eyes big squad boost
Some significant Championship injury news from the Pompey boss - as John Mousinho eyes his club’s treatment room clearing.
John Mousinho has set the date for his returning cavalry to bolster Pompey’s Championship cause.
The Blues boss has targeted next month’s meeting with Millwall as the game where he expects to see a host of his sidelined players return to the fray.
Millwall the game for Pompey players returning
Mousinho has confirmed key man Callum Lang remains on course to be back in the equation, by the time the Lions arrive at PO4 on November 22. Lang has now been out for 11 weeks after undergoing hamstring, following surgery on the problematic issue when being forced off against Norwich in August.
But Mousinho has stated he now also expects keeper Nico Schmid to be back for the same game, after fracturing his hand in the south-coast derby draw at Southampton.
And the Pompey boss also has the meeting with Alex Neil’s side pencilled in for a potential Adrian Segecic comeback, from the ankle injury suffered against Coventry last week. Mousinho won’t totally commit to Pompey’s early-season top scorer being available for the game, though he anticipates the 21-year-old to be training after next month’s international break.
It’s a similar story for Crystal Palace arrival Franco Umeh, who Pompey fans have not seen at all since his deadline day arrival in a £500,000 deal. Umeh is slated for a return to training before Millwall after dealing with a hamstring issue, but won’t be available for selection before a return to league action after the two-week break.
Thomas Waddingham should be, however, with his quad return brought forward from a timespan which originally kept him out until December.
Harvey Blair will be eased back into training, as he deals with some further hamstring discomfort following a five-month lay-off with the issue. Conor Shaughnessy's latest hamstring issue will keep him out until December, however.
After dealing with a raft of absences Mousinho rated as the worst of his Pompey managerial tenure, he welcomed signs of the treatment room clearing.
He said: ‘With Nico I think we always said eight to 12 weeks from when he first did it, so we’re well within that period. It’s just the nature of the injury and waiting for the fracture to heal, so it’s one where we can’t push it. It’s just where he is, but I think he’ll be back before that 12-week period.
‘Langy is Millwall, Nico is Millwall, Franco will return to training before that, but won’t be available before then. Shaughs (Shaughnessy) is a lot later.
Pompey to be ‘sensible’ with Blair
‘Harvey (Blair) is one of those who’s coming back and returning to training, but we’ll be nice and sensible with him. Segs (Segecic) is Millwall, but whether he’s back and available to play I’m not sure, but he should be training with us around that international break.
‘Hopefully by then we are in an okay spot and we may have a 25-man squad to select from.
‘Some things never change at this football club with injuries! It’s obviously not the case, but it feels like that is where we are at the moment.’