Portsmouth boss' Reuben Swann conundrum as he weighs up next step for teenager's future

John Mousinho is adamant the future remains bright for Reuben Swann - but is undecided over the next important step.

The Blues are currently weighing up whether the teenage talent will benefit from staying at Fratton Park rather than being sent on a non-league loan to develop.

After 14 months on the south coast, Pompey’s faith that Swann can blossom into a first-team performer remains strong.

The midfielder arrived from AFC Sudbury in June 2024 following seven appearances and two goals in the Southern League Southern Central and his signing was viewed as a long-term project.

He subsequently spent last season with the Hawks, featuring 43 times and scoring seven goals, offering supporters tantalising glimpses of his ability.

However, following a hip flexor injury, the 19-year-old was restricted to just one friendly outing for the Blues in pre-season - ironically against the Hawks.

Now Mousinho is mulling over the next stage of Swann’s development.

‘We signed Reuben because we think, one day, he can become a first-team player’

He told The News: ‘Reuben was one of the few players we have brought in to develop for the longer term.

‘There are some players we would speak to and tell them even though we don’t have an under-21s, we still want to develop you in a different way. Certainly a lot of the time I think it is probably more beneficial training with the first-team every day rather than training with an under-21s.

‘He has been in and out of training a bit, he’s struggling with his hip flexors, so we’re making a decision on Reuben as to whether we keep him in to give him the exposure to training over the next 4-5 months - or we loan him out.

‘I don’t think there’s any worry if we keep Reuben in and expose him to what we do every day in terms of the intensity and learning off some of the better players we have here. There is also benefit in him going out on loan, but we haven’t made that decision yet.

‘We signed Reuben because we think that, one day, he could become a first-team player with the football club. He is still incredibly young, even though he’s been here for a year, he is still learning, still developing.

‘He had a stop-start loan last season at Havant and showed some real glimpses. Probably his season last year could be encapsulated in the friendly he played against them.

‘Reuben showed some real bright sparks and you think he’s definitely above this level. Then sometimes lets himself down in certain areas and you can understand why maybe he didn’t play every single minute of every game.

‘Reuben knows that, we spoke to him about that. First and foremost, fitness for him is really important and, if he can kick on and knuckle down, I think it’s going to be an interesting season for him.

‘We are quite keen for what the future holds for him - and that’s down to him really.’

Swann’s hip flexor injury struck at the most inopportune time, sustained midway through the training camp at the X-Bionic Sphere, Samorin, in Slovakia, ahead of the scheduled seven pre-season friendlies.

At the time, Mousinho had been singing the praises of the attacking midfielder, who had returned to pre-season in a determined mood to catch the eye.

Portsmouth boss: ‘I have been pretty impressed with him’

Mousinho added: ‘Reuben was actually one of the good performers in pre-season.

‘It's just that consistency of fitness and consistency in terms of what he does on the pitch. Sometimes he does brilliant things, sometimes he lets himself down.

‘It’s just finding that level of consistency. I have been pretty impressed with him so far.’

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