Christian Burgess reveals the under-rated player at Portsmouth who never hit it off

And while Christian Burgess admitted Michael Smith didn't hit it off at Fratton Park, he also felt the striker’s ability was underrated.

Smith had an unhappy stay on the south coast, managing only seven goals in 34 league games and was on the end of fan flak.

When Kenny Jackett succeeded Paul Cook as manager in the summer of 2017, Smith was quickly made surplus to requirements and left for Bury.

However, the ex-Barnsley man’s since revived his career at Rotherham, twicing helping them to promotion to the Championship.

Speaking to The News’ Pompey Talk podcast, Burgess revealed he could see glimpses of Smith’s ability in training.

But the forward was unable to convert it to a match day.

Burgess said: ‘Someone I saw who was really good, but didn’t transfer it onto the pitch – but I thought was under-rated - was someone like Michael Smith.

‘I thought he was a very god striker. He had a great touch for a big man but was also a target man.

‘I don’t know to which category to put him in (either being under-rated or someone who didn’t deliver).

‘I saw how good he was in training, there were glimmers and there was some good stuff in games but it just never worked out for him.

‘Portsmouth has been a little bit of a graveyard for strikers who’ve had smaller periods here and there but it hasn’t quite gone for them.’

Tom Naylor’s recent goalscoring form has earned him plenty of plaudits.

The skipper has bagged six goals this season, netting long-range thunderbolts against King’s Lynn and Peterborough,

Burgess played with Naylor for two seasons before leaving for Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in the summer.

And the centre-back felt Naylor didn’t get the credit he deserved under recently.

Burgess added: ‘Tom Naylor was really under-rated in the past couple of years. Now he’s scoring stupid and they're all worldies, so I think someone else must be impersonating Tom Naylor.

‘He can’t shoot like this, honestly! Even in training, you’d let him shoot because it was just going over.

‘But all the dirty work he did and horrible work made it so much easier for me. He was pretty underrated in the first two years and now he’s getting some of the recognition.’