'He was very well-regarded at Crystal Palace': Where it's gone wrong for Portsmouth's forgotten man

A Premier League entrance may have eluded him, yet Franco Umeh’s eight-game presence on Crystal Palace’s bench suggested a talent with a bright future.

There were also unused substitute outings in Carabao Cup clashes with QPR and Aston Villa during that 2024-25 season, although the teenager did score in an EFL Trophy match at Gillingham.

On such evidence, including monitoring Umeh’s progress at Under-21s level, Pompey were convinced to bring him to Fratton Park on transfer deadline day in September 2025.

‘Franco 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,’ Rich Hughes told The News at the time.

‘He 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.’

11 months at Fratton Park

It is approaching 11 months since Umeh signed a four-year deal with Pompey, joining from the Premier League club for an undisclosed fee.

Over that period he has totalled 45 minutes of first-team action, consisting of just two appearances, having been included in five of John Mousinho’s squads.

Having arrived from Selhurst Park with a pre-existing hamstring problem, injuries have continued to blight the highly-regarded attacker.

Encouragingly, Umeh had recovered from his most recent hamstring set-back to participate in last month’s return to pre-season training, albeit with Mousinho reluctant to hand him friendly action just yet.

As a consequence, the 21-year-old was absent against Woking, Aldershot and Bristol Rovers, purely for precautionary reasons. He subsequently missed Saturday’s 3-1 loss at Wycombe through injury.

As explained by Pompey’s head coach afterwards, Umeh had damaged his groin in training during the build up, potentially ruling him out for another four weeks.

In terms of small mercies, at least it wasn’t a recurrence of the hamstring injury he last aggravated while in FA Cup action against Arsenal in January. Nonetheless, it once again raises concerns over his long-term Fratton Park fitness.

Pompey were full aware of attacker’s injury history

Certainly Pompey had signed Umeh well aware of his injury history, as Hughes told The News in December 2025.

‘We really like Franco, he has been on the bench in the Premier League and we watched him play a lot for the under-21s. This was an opportunity which came up.

‘Ultimately, the alternative scenario is we don’t sign him in the summer, he gets around Palace’s team, he does well and we can’t get him in January. So we took an educated guess to mitigate the injury.

‘It wasn’t a straightforward process to sign him, he was very well regarded at Palace, quite liked by (Oliver) Glasner and training with the first-team a lot, but it’s an exciting one for us to have as part of the group and to be able to build on.

‘Possibly we may not have been able to sign him but for the injury, but it’s one of the sliding doors moments of football which you never really know what pans out.

‘It has been great watching him in training in the last fortnight or so, but we’re not going to rush him, we want to build up that resistance to him, make sure he’s ready to go when he’s back in the group. We just need to build up that training load with him.’

Football League debut in December 2025

Umeh made his Football League debut the following month, as an 89th-minute substitute against Charlton in December 2025.

Encouragingly, he was involved in Minhyeok Yang’s dramatic winner, making a nuisance of himself when trying to get onto the end of Andre Dozzell’s ball into the box, thereby allowing the Spurs loanee to pounce.

Get access to trustworthy local news for just £5 - sign up for a digital subscription to The News

Two matches later, he was introduced on 40 minutes against Arsenal, replacing the injured Harvey Blair on the left wing.

However, late in the game, while sprinting on the left flank in front of the South Stand, he tore his hamstring. Umeh didn’t complete the match, totalling 44 minutes on pitch, and subsequently underwent an operation which put him out for the season.

Now he’s injured once more, an absence which should take him past his one-year anniversary at Fratton Park.

‘We think he's going to be a really talented boy, we love his attitude, he’s a really smiley, positive kid,’ Hughes said in December.

‘Franco’s strong, he’s powerful, he’s quick, he has a lovely left foot. He will provide balance and will play in a few different positions.’

‘He’s a player we have high hopes for. We just have to get him out on the pitch and then, hopefully, everyone will see some of the traits which me and John saw in abundance when we went to watch him last year.’

And that has been the problem for Pompey. We haven’t seen him.

Your Next Pompey Read: No permanent homecoming for former Barnsley, Luton and Charlton man after answering Portsmouth SOS