Portsmouth boss John Mousinho provides exciting update over £500,000 Crystal Palace arrival as comeback nears
Franco Umeh is yet to feature for Pompey following his £500,000 deadline-day move from Crystal Palace.
John Mousinho is adamant Franco Umeh is ‘ready to involve himself’ in first-team football for the first time at Pompey.
The winger, who completed a £500,000 move from Crystal Palace on the final day of the summer window, is yet to register a competitive outing for the Blues due to injury.
The 21-year-old was one of four new signings made by Pompey on deadline day, with the forward joining Makenzie Kirk, Josef Bursik and Conor Chaplin through the doors at Fratton Park.
However, Umeh has been sidelined throughout his three-and-a-half-month stay on the south coast because of a longstanding hamstring issue sustained prior to his Selhurst Park exit.
The Republic of Ireland U21 international has, though, been back in full training in recent weeks, with Mousinho previously calling for patience as the Blues looked to build up the young talent’s fitness once again.
John Mousinho’s latest on Franco Umeh
His last competitive appearance came in the Premier League 2 for the Eagles against Southampton but has been forced to sit out the opening months of the campaign due to injury.
The head coach is now more positive over Umeh’s current status and in a short update admitted the forward is almost ready to make an impact.
Mousinho said in his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s trip to Derby County: ‘Franco is back in full training, pretty much ready to involve himself in first-team football.’
It remains to be seen when the deadline-day signing could be deployed for the first time on the south coast, with a busy festive period on the horizon. But it’s no doubt positive news for the Fratton faithful, who are yet to catch a glimpse of the £500,000 man.
What attracted Pompey to Franco Umeh
Umeh impressed both Mousinho and Rich Hughes massively during his time at Selhurst Park, with the Pompey boss spotted attending Eagles’ U21 matches at the end of last term.
Hughes told The News at the time: ‘Me and John watched quite a lot of Franco. He’s an unbelievable athlete, has a really nice personality and possesses a good ability for affecting games.
‘That became really apparent when we watched him playing for Palace under-21s, while he found himself on the first-team bench quite a few times as well.
‘He was well regarded at Palace, a real rawness of physical ability and an ability to affect games in the final third through pace, power, athleticism and bits of quality.
‘Franco is going to need time, he’s going to need work, but he’s one we are really excited about having in the building permanently and working with, letting him develop and letting him flourish into the player we firmly all believe he will be.
‘He needs to get up to speed, he’s not had the best pre-season and he has been working to get back from his injury. When that happens, he will be around the group, he will be part of it, like all players it will be up to him to perform and get in the team or on the bench.
‘Coming from under-21 football into the Championship is a huge leap and completely different in terms of physicality and intensity, but we’ve had some good experience of players doing that and have learnt as a football club how to better prepare players for that.
‘So we’re looking forward to putting that into place for Franco and giving him that platform to show everyone what a good footballer he is.’
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