'Came out of nowhere' - update on Portsmouth forward Ronan Curtis as former Blackburn & Cardiff target prepares for surgery

And the Blues head coach paid credit to the winger for his positive attitude, after revealing the result of Friday’s scan ‘came out of nowhere’.

The 26-year-old went to see a specialist after suffering the injury during a tackle last Tuesday night’s 3-1 win against Bolton.

But confirmation of the ACL injury that followed – plus news that his season was over – was apparently the last thing that was expected.

It now leaves the Irishman, who is out of contract at the end of the season, with a long road to recovery ahead of him.

Mousinho, however, believes Curtis is focused on what lies ahead. He’s also convinced the former Derry man will come back stronger from the experience.

Speaking ahead of the Blues’ trip to Barnsley, he said: ‘I think Ronan is as good as can be.

‘I spoke to him this morning and he’s in good spirits, considering he’s got a season-ending injury that came out of nowhere really. He wasn’t expecting to get that news off the back of the scan he had on Friday afternoon.

‘So when you take all those things into consideration, he’s in a really good spot.

‘He’s focused on getting on with the next stage, which is surgery and then the early stages of rehab.

‘He’s positive, he’s great to have round the place. He’s going to be a big miss for us, no doubt, and all the lads know that.

‘We wish him well going into the surgery, but there’s no doubt in my mind he’ll come back stronger.’

Curtis has featured 226 times for the Blues following his 2018 summer arrival and scored 57 goals.

His current deal is due to expire at the end of the season, meaning the Republic of Ireland could potentially have played his last game for the club.

However, Mousinho reiterated now was not the time to be considering that.

Instead, he re-emphasised that Curtis’ recovery was the main focus at this moment.

‘We still haven’t had that discussion,’ said Mousinho.

‘I don’t think it’s the right time to have it with Ronan having to face going under the knife really soon.

‘Of course, it’s not something that we’ll ignore and we’ll have to deal with it at some point. But the first thing for us is to make sure, medically, he gets all the support he needs – and he’ll have that now and for how many months it takes him to get back.

‘The medical support will be there and then we’ll look at the situation with the contract.

‘For him, it will be something that’s playing at the back of his mind, so we’ll not want to let it linger

‘From the club’s point of view, it would be pretty inappropriate to look at contracts at this stage when there’s a young man who’s got injured and needs our support.’