A Portsmouth departure which should be a blessing for cursed ex-Manchester United and Birmingham man who never played in two years

No doubt the outcome wasn’t celebrated by Jayden Reid, who retained hopes of remaining on the south coast despite two years devastated by misfortune.

Nonetheless, with three serious injuries depriving him of a single competitive outing, it’s hard not to feel for a young winger who endured a wretched time and now deserves to glimpse blue skies above.

Soberingly, he was never able to play at Fratton Park, not so much as a friendly or Hampshire Senior Cup fixture, during a miserable association with the Blues.

Reid was an inevitable departure among those eight whose contracts were not renewed, yet it’s difficult not to feel for a 22-year-old winger who numbers Manchester United, Swansea and Birmingham among previous clubs.

Indeed, just four days after the one-time triallist signed a Pompey deal in July 2021, he sustained ACL damage to his left knee – seven minutes into a substitute appearance at Luton in pre-season.

In the subsequent two campaigns, he featured in four further friendlies, totalling 126 minutes, although has not kicked a ball in a match environment for 10 months.

Perhaps crucially, the decision over Reid’s ongoing Pompey future was taken by a sporting director and head coach who have yet to see him in full training, such has been the length of duration on the sidelines.

The boss who recruited the attacker, Danny Cowley, could well have fought his corner if still present, having previously shown faith and taken up the club’s 12-month option in the summer of 2022 following the expiry of his contract.

Yet sadly that remains a purely hypothetical – and pointless – debate, considering Cowley left in January.

The blunt truth is Mousinho was faced with an impossible task to accurately judge the ability of a player whose last match action was at Bristol City in July 2022.

It was a behind-closed-doors friendly at the Robins High Performance Centre when, shortly before half-time, Reid went up for an aerial challenge and fell awkwardly.

He didn’t reappear after the break, replaced by Alfie Bridgman in an enforced substitution, and was later diagnosed with a hamstring tear.

That summer, being gently eased back in after recovering from the previous year’s ACL, the former Manchester United youngster was handed second-half outings at the Hawks and Gosport.

Then, during a week-long training camp in Murcia, Spain, he featured for 29 minutes in a 2-0 victory over Qatar SC.

His next challenge consisted of lining up against Nigel Pearson’s Championship side in July 2022 – only to sustain another injury, albeit this time a hamstring issue.

The determined Reid again returned, back in training in October, with Cowley quietly hopeful the winger could potentially ignite a Blues side which had frustratingly lost its early-season spark.

Yet again fate cruelly intervened, with the luckless player sustaining ACL damage to his right knee, this time in training, albeit not the knee injured 15 months to provide the smallest of mercies.

Regardless, it would put him out for the remainder of this season, potentially, until September 2023 – a period in which Pompey changed their head coach and appointed Rich Hughes as sporting director.

There are some who felt Reid should have been afforded more time to prove himself after recovering from the latest injury blow inflicted during a heartbreaking Pompey stay.

Yet there’s currently strong appetite in Fratton corridors for an overhaul of the playing staff, following three successive seasons spent outside League One’s play-off spots.

Now Reid seeks a new club – and a change of scenery which hopefully can revitalise a playing career ruined by Pompey rotten luck.