'Tough period': John Mousinho on what has happened to Portsmouth's forgotten signing
The former Crystal Palace man has totalled 45 minutes of first-team action for the Blues since joining in September 2025
John Mousinho pledged patience over his forgotten Pompey signing and insisted: We aren’t going to rush him.
The Blues had high hopes for Franco Umeh after signing him from Crystal Palace for around £500,000 in September 2025.
However, the Republic of Ireland Under-21 international managed just 45 minutes of first-team action last season, with persistent hamstring problems sidelining him.
Although now back in training, Umeh has still to feature in Pompey’s friendly programme, having sat out Woking, Aldershot and Bristol Rovers to date.
And while Mousinho is ‘hopeful’ of having the 21-year-old available for Saturday’s trip to Wycombe (4pm), he still cannot be sure.
‘I hope he will be available’
He told The News: ‘Franco is okay, we are just him monitoring day to day.
‘It’s a similar situation to Wadds to be fair. It’s about managing Franco and making sure we get through a tough period for him because of the amount we’re asking him to do in training.
‘I hope he will be available. Availability is a huge part of it with squads, with players, with players pushing themselves individually.
‘We’ve had some very talented players in the building over the past few years and availability has sometimes been an issue with them - and Franco is certainly one of them.
‘He has been here for a year now, he hasn’t started a game for us, the most he has played was when he got injured in that Arsenal match.
‘It’s a really interesting one for us to manage. We will probably be hopeful to have him back for Wycombe, but we aren’t going to rush him. We’ll just make sure we’ll manage him back over the next couple of weeks.’
Waddingham scored the winner in the opening friendly at Woking, yet has subsequently not featured in the following two fixtures as the Blues look to ease him back.
Likewise, Umeh has been dipped in and out of full training over pre-season in the hope he doesn’t break down with yet another injury.
The attacker was signed from Palace while nursing a hamstring problem, with sporting director Rich Hughes later admitting that, had it not been for the injury, Pompey may have been unable to sign him.
Umeh subsequently made his debut as a substitute against Charlton in December 2025, then came off the bench to replace the injured Harvey Blair against Arsenal in the FA Cup third round.
And Pompey are seeking to carefully manage Umeh through his first pre-season with the club.
‘Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t’
Mousinho added: ‘Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, we are always sensible.
‘With players, sometimes we get things wrong, but Shocks' one last year was a really, really good example.
‘We gave him 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 60 minutes and then 90 minutes against Sheffield Wednesday - and he unfortunately picked up an injury at Hillsborough.
‘Even when we manage players back and do everything we possibly can to get them in a good spot, sometimes it doesn’t work.’
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