‘Really burst on to the scene’: Crystal Palace reject out to make Pompey mark
Pompey are hoping Crystal Palace’s loss will be their gain in a big season for the first academy player to graduate into the senior ranks in over two years.
Harry Clout has been challenged to make the transition to the senior set-up and realise his Pompey potential.
John Mousinho has lauded the attacking talent’s emerging ‘promise’, after handing the 18-year-old a senior deal this summer.
From Crystal Palace to Pompey - and now senior football challenge
But the Blues boss has made it clear Clout has to now show he has all the attributes required to step up to the first-team ranks this term.
It’s been a big period for the former Crystal Palace talent, who arrived at PO4 two years ago after being turned down for a scholarship at Selhurst Park.
Clout has made strong progress since, however, with the left footer coming to attention at first-team level last summer.
Impressive performances, particularly in a 3-0 win at Hawks last July, came off the back of impressive Pompey Academy displays which brought him on to Mousinho’s radar.
Last term wasn’t a straightforward journey, however, as Clout picked up a Blues training ground injury after joining Bognor on loan.
But his talent and application has seen him step into the senior ranks this summer, as he became the first academy player to gain a senior deal in over two years.
Clout joined Mousinho’s squad for their pre-season training camp in Slovakia, as he took on the challenge of working with seasoned Championship performers every days.
An eye-catching finish at Farnborough arrived 17 minutes into the player’s pre-season, with further outings arriving against Crawley, Reading, Hawks and Brighton.
Now the task for Clout is show he’s capable of turning the promising glimpses he’s showing into concerted impact in men’s football, in what is an important period in his young career.
Mousinho said: ‘It was really pleasing for us to reward one of the academy players with their first professional contract in Harry.
‘We’ve seen plenty of Harry since last season.
‘He came in and had a really good impact in the last pre-season, but probably a stop-start season for him in terms of injuries and loans.
Mousinho on Clout: ‘Shown a lot of promise for long time’
‘But we’re certainly trying to get him up to speed this year, he’s been involved so far and we’ll see where that takes him.
‘Harry’s a player who’s shown a lot of promise for a long time.
‘He really burst on to the scene in pre-season last year and had a couple of excellent games.
‘He really caught the eye at the back end of the season before in a couple of cup games for the academy.
‘Perhaps he didn’t quite have the season we’re hoping for him to have last season based on pre-season, but a lot of that was down to injuries.
‘So the first thing for Harry is to try to make sure he stays fit and then impacts the first team.’