How new role can unlock former West Ham United and Brighton target’s Portsmouth threat amid Sheff Utd attacking concerns

And Blues boss John Mousinho believes his side will see the threat the League One title winner’s capable of causing for opposing defences at Championship level.

That’s after the 23-year-old’s first attacking return of the season in a much-improved display at Burnley last weekend.

The man who delivered 12 goals and eight assists last term has endured a tough start to life in the second tier, leading to the former Fleetwood man being taken out of the start line-up against Sunderland at the end of last month.

But a shift into the number 10 position from out wide helped contributed to a strong showing at Burnley, as the man who has attracted interest from the likes of Brighton and West Ham in the past showed his capabilities.

With top scorer Callum Lang likely sidelined against Sheffield United, more of the same will be required this weekend.

Mousinho said: ‘Paddy did really well to set the goal up, there’s still more to come from him.

‘It was just a slight tweak in terms of his position, we think sometimes out wide and isolated 1v1 we were asking a bit more from Paddy in those first few games.

READ MORE: Brighton interested in ‘£2m wonderkid’ Paddy Lane.

‘I think that tweak in position to get him in a different role and having the two direct wingers with Callum and Murph worked really well.

‘There’s still a lot more to come from Paddy like we saw last year.

‘We want to see the assists like we did at the weekend. His work-rate was exceptional, he was part of that front three which worked their socks off. They were both dead on their feet by the time he came off.

‘It’s been a good response from Paddy, having lost his place in the team a couple of weeks ago - and he’s got to keep working.’

Pompey have obvious worries going forward at present with Lang joining Colby Bishop and Kusini Yengi, as forward-thinking options out of contention for Saturday.

Harvey Blair, Matt Ritchie and Sammy Silvera are the obvious considerations to feature out wide, with Lane deployed central in a role Mousinho feels the former Fleetwood man is suited to.

He added: ‘Paddy's really comfortable on the ball and technically very good, he can shift it from side to side, he can put it on his right foot and on his left foot and he's comfortable on both sides. 

‘I think he finds space really well and particularly did that well at times at the weekend.

‘One of the reasons we went with that (line-up) was because the way we press we need to be very, very disciplined.

‘I thought Paddy was very, very good out of possession, very disciplined screening the six, getting up to the centre-half and working in a partnership with the nine - I thought that worked well with Paddy at the weekend.’