Forgotten forward Florian Bianchini putting his Portsmouth and Swansea troubles behind him
Florian Bianchini registered just one assist during his season-long loan stay at Pompey in 2025-26
Florian Bianchini looks to be putting his Pompey and Swansea troubles firmly behind him.
The 25-year-old, who endured a miserable loan spell at Fratton Park last term, just a year after the Swans forked out £1.95m for the forward, appears to have rediscovered some of his best form at Ligue 2 side Clermont Foot 63.
That’s something fans of both the Blues and the Liberty Stadium outfit rarely witnessed as the former Bastia attacker struggled to make the step up to the Championship.
Yet, five games into his loan spell at Clermont, Bianchini has already registered more goal contributions than he did during his season-long stay at Pompey.
Meanwhile, his two goals and assists for Les Lanciers to date are just narrowly short of the three goals the Frenchman mustered in his 38 appearances for the Swans over the entirety of the 2024-25 campaign.
Bianchini’s latest effort, a superbly-executed curling effort from outside the box following a powerful run, against Laval demonstrates what he is capable of.
However, it’s a piece of magic that was sorely missed during his two years in the Championship, with both Swansea and Pompey clearly moving on without the forward in their plans.
In fairness, Bianchini’s Blues stint was blighted by tendonitis in his knee, an injury saw him sit out four-and-a-half months of his loan arrangement.
Nevertheless, in the 11 appearances he made for Pompey up until the end of last November, the Swansea loanee did little to endear himself to the Fratton faithful.
A run of five consecutive inconsequential outings, three of which were starts, at the start of the season were followed by a period where the winger was in and out of John Mousinho’s side.
Indeed, for eight of the Blues’ next 14 games, Bianchini remained an unused substitute, with an assist in the 2-1 defeat against Norwich his only goal contribution before injury struck.
The injury, which saw Bianchini return to France to see a specialist, resulted in him sitting out 24 games.
It also saw Mousinho fail to register the forward in his 25-man squad list for the second half of the 2025-26 campaign.
Bianchini did eventually return to a Blues match-day squad for the visit of Ipswich to Fratton Park on April 14, with Pompey having capacity to re-register the player ahead of the game.
But Bianchini remained on the bench and was not part of the Blues’ remaining four Championship games as his Fratton Park loan stay ended without any fanfare.
The forward remains contracted to Swansea until 2028.