BREAKING: Portsmouth update over Zak Swanson’s future with key development over former Arsenal man

The Pompey boss has this afternoon confirmed there has been progress over the right-back extending his stay at PO4.

And that now looks increasingly likely to result in the former Arsenal man being on board for the Blues’ Championship return.

Where Swanson will be playing football next season has been firmly in the balance, after Pompey opted not to take up a 12-month option in his contract with his existing deal at a close.

Mousinho revealed, however, there is still dialogue between player and club, with a pathway to a new agreement now on the cards.

He said in a Facebook Live Q&A today : ‘The situation with Zak is that contract negotiations are ongoing.

‘We’re hopeful we can agree something with Zak over the next week or so.

‘We’ll see how it goes. It’s not something that’s been on the forefront of my mind, but it’s been at the forefront of the club’s mind because it’s being dealt with.

‘It’s not being dealt with by me by design, because I’m out here.’

Swanson has made 44 appearances in his two years at Pompey, but has also been hampered by groin issues which have required two operations.

Mousinho believes the right-back’s challenge is to show he’s robust enough to feature at Fratton regularly.

He added: ‘Zak’s big challenge is maintaining his fitness.

‘He managed to do that for large parts of last year, but unfortunately picked up an injury towards the back end of last season.

‘With Zak, we’re really happy with the talent and the promise he’s shown.

‘He also dealt with a couple of things off the pitch we’re all aware of.

‘With Zak, there is no way we’d not offer him a deal if we didn’t think he was good enough. So he’s going to be a promising addition if we can make it happen.’