Frustration continues for Crystal Palace capture as wait for sight of £500,000 Portsmouth arrival goes on
The Fratton Faithful have still to see the transfer deadline day capture in action five weeks after his arrival. Here’s Pompey boss John Mousinho on how things stand with the Irishman.
Pompey will exercise caution over Franco Umeh as the new boy’s Fratton career waits to ignite.
Blues boss John Mousinho has confirmed there’s still no sign of the deadline day capture from Crystal Palace coming into the Championship fray.
Mousinho on Umeh: I’m sure it’s frustrating for him
Umeh is still not in full training, after arriving at PO4 following a £500,000 deal being sealed for the Republic of Ireland under-21 international.
The 20-year-old picked up a hamstring issue in pre-season but Pompey were still comfortable in completing a deal for the former Cork City man, on a busy final day of transfer activity at the start of last month.
It’s now been more than five weeks since Umeh was handed a four-year contract, with Mousinho watching the winger closely on a number of occasions as he emerged among his former club’s array of under-21 talent.
The Blues boss knows the situation is certain to be causing consternation for the new boy, as it is for Pompey staff keen to get Umeh into the senior fray.
Some controlled training sessions saw the talent, who made four EFL Trophy appearances at his previous home, feeling some discomfort. Mousinho isn’t interested in seeing Umeh rush his return, however, and then being hit with a longer-term setback.
He said: ‘Franco has this hamstring issue which we are needing to manage. He hasn’t trained at all, he participated a little bit in some controlled sessions but is still feeling it a little bit - so there’s no full training for him at the moment.
‘I’m sure it’s frustrating for him. It’s a position that we’ve tried to strengthen in and wanted to fill. But what’s more important is that Franco gets it right and we get him out there - as soon as that is possible.’
Pompey’s injury picture
Umeh is currently joined in the treatment room by a number of his new team-mates, with Pompey picking up a host of new injuries in the campaign to date. Key men Nico Schmid (fractured hand), Josh Murphy (ankle), Callum Lang (hamstring) and Conor Shaughnessy (hamstring) are all currently sidelined.
Schmid has been given an eight to 12-week timeframe for his absence, after the suffering the injury picked up in the south-coast derby against Southampton. That would see the second full week of November as the earliest return for the Austrian.
Shaughnessy is estimated to be out for 12 weeks, after limping off in the defeat to Sheffield Wednesday last month. That would see the defender sidelined until mid-December.
Mousinho revealed last week Callum Lang is targeting being back for the clash with Millwall on November 22, after undergoing hamstring injury when suffering the blow against Norwich City in August.
The news is brighter over Josh Murphy’s ongoing ankle problem, with Mousinho hopeful the key man will be back for the trip to Leicester City after the international break.
Pompey’s other current injury absentee is striker Thomas Waddingham, who is out for 12 weeks after suffering a quad injury in training. That means he’s not set to be back in contention until December.