New Portsmouth signing’s honest admission over Championship readiness ahead of Norwich City and West Brom

Luke Le Roux admitted he’s still short of his expected fitness levels following his stop-start Pompey arrival.

But the South African international believes he’s now at the stage of the career where he’s ready to impact the Championship.

Pompey new boy: ‘I’m not where I’d like to be’

Le Roux explained he’s still short of where he’d ‘like to be’ when it comes to the conditioning needed at second-tier level, after his Blues debut against Reading on Tuesday night in the Carabao Cup.

The 25-year-old was one of the few players to emerge with any credit from the disappointing 2-1 loss, as he got 70 minutes of football under his belt.

That’s after a period where Le Roux has not been able to feature for his former club IFK Varnamo, as his switch to Fratton Park was negotiated.

Then the former Volendam man had to wait for international clearance to come through after sealing a three-year arrival, which limited the amount of work he could do at his new club.

Now Pompey boss John Mousinho has to decide if the no-nonsense operator is ready for Championship involvement, as Norwich arrive at Fratton Park this weekend.

Le Roux said: ‘I realised before the Reading match that my last game was four-and-a-half weeks ago

‘I came in two weeks ago and the training has been really good training, as well as really good individual training. So I’m getting there. I’m getting there, but I’m not where I’d like to be yet - I can admit that.

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‘But I’m going in the right direction and I feel good. I feel good and I’m not saying that I’m out of shape. I feel good, I hope and believe it will get better.

‘It was the wait for international clearance, but it was how it was when I left my club.

‘You know how it is when there’s negotiations, you’re not allowed to train or you train but don’t play.

‘You can play but you don’t want to risk anything, because you already have in your mind you’re going to move to another team.

‘That’s just how it was, so it was stop-start but it went through in the end, I’m here now and it can only get better.’

Le Roux ready for Championship career move to Pompey

Le Roux’s football pathway has taken him from SuperSport United in his native country to Europe with a three-year stint with Swedish outfit Varbergs Bols.

A move to Dutch football with Volendam ensued where he spent a year, before another year-long spell in Sweden with Varnamo preceded his Pompey arrival.

Le Roux added: ‘I think I am ready for the Championship, I think so. It’s always a dream to be here, now I have to come to realisation I am here and I’m in a good team with a good group of players.

‘To even play it won’t be easy, because in my position there are some good midfielders and good competition.

‘It’s not like I can come and walk into the team, I have to show what I can do. That’s the plan to show what I can do.

‘I want to play as many games as possible and stay injury free - that’s my plan for this season.’

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