Why Portsmouth fans are going to love Ebou Adams after Derby County capture
Ebou Adams signed for Pompey for £500,000 on Friday and made his Championship debut the next day at Hillsborough. John Mousinho believes the Fratton Faithful have a player in their image.
John Mousinho heralded the arrival of key missing qualities to his midfield with the capture of Ebou Adams.
And the Pompey boss pinpointed his new enforcer as possessing the aggressive commitment the Fratton Faithful ‘expect’, following his £500,000 capture from Derby County.
Mousinho believes that presence in the middle of the park will see Adams go down well with supporters, while adding the kind of profile missing among the Blues’ existing central options.
Adams completed his arrival on a two-and-a-half year deal on Friday as his new side’s second January capture, following on from new loanee Millenic Alli joining from Luton Town.
The 30-year-old made his debut off the bench at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, with the former Norwich City youngster immediately showing what he’s all about as he contributed to the 1-0 success.
That involvement came despite Adams having a whirlwind arrival, as the details of the deal were completed in time for him to feature at Hillsborough.
The former Forest Green is known to sporting director Rich Hughes who took him from Ebbsfleet to Gloucestershire, where Adams came to prominence amid their League Two title success in 2022.
That paved the way for a move to Cardiff and then on to Pride Park, where Adams helped the Rams reach the Championship, wore the captain’s armband and won player of the season plaudits last term.
He said: ‘We’re delighted to get Ebou. He arrived at about 1.30am on Friday morning into Portsmouth and had his medical about five hours later. We wanted to make sure we had everything in before the deadline (to feature against Sheffield Wednesday) at 12pm Friday.
‘The rationale behind signing him is, we’ve been tracking Ebou for a long time and Rich had his at Forest Green.
Pompey have lacked ‘that bit of physicality in middle of park’
‘The acid test for us was whenever Ebou lined up against us, we would’ve rather he’d been on the bench. I think that is a pretty good reason to take him.
‘He has a huge amount of enthusiasm and a huge amount of energy and confidence.
‘Ebou was the club captain at Derby, so to bring someone in at this stage of the season is something we’re delighted about.
‘He suits us down to the ground, in terms of the energy, enthusiasm and aggression the fans expect. Ebou’s a good player too, he can definitely play.
‘I think we’ve lacked that a little bit this season, that bit of physicality in the middle of the park.
‘We’ve got some very good players in there, but he brings that and he brings something completely different. With losing Kos for the season it was something we had to think about, in terms of replacing him.’