How Premier League guidance and fresh coaching approach is transforming Portsmouth newcomer

And he believes the significant improvements are already obvious.

The summer signing has been challenged to dislodge Connor Ogilvie from left-back, with injury subsequently provided the opportunity over the last three matches.

A natural attacking full-back, Sparkes’ defensive game has come under the watchful eye of first-team development coach and former Fulham centre-half Zesh Rehman.

While the 22-year-old’s crossing skills are being honed by assistant head coach Jon Harley, a left-back formerly with Chelsea, Fulham, West Ham and England under-21s.

And Sparkes is convinced their combined experience has ramped up his displays.

He told The News: ‘While I need to work on attacking, I want to focus on the defensive side of the game a bit more because, if I’m playing as a left-back, the manager needs to trust me.

‘Connor (Ogilvie) is a really good example. He’s so solid in defence that he is almost a guaranteed starter and I need to work my way up to be like that.

‘If you've got a good base and are solid like Connor, you are trusted in the team and the manager isn’t going to take you out.

‘That’s something me and Zesh have worked on quite a lot and I’ve improved defensively since I have been here.

‘We work pretty hard on it, sending through clips to each other. He was messaging me at 10.30pm on Sunday with clips.

‘It’s always good to watch the clips back and then compare them to how it was 5-6 weeks ago – and you can see the difference.

‘It’s the information given to me, different ways of doing it,. While it’s probably not obvious for people watching, there are different techniques of marking that probably go unnoticed.

‘If Zesh comes to me and says “Look, I think you can do this”, it’s only positive. Anything to help me cement my place in the team.’

Sparkes has featured in all 14 of Pompey matches this season, in all competitions, of which seven have been starts.

He has also weighed in with three assists – and credits Harley for overseeing his attacking game.

He added: ‘Jon has been at the top end and experienced it, so it’s good for him to feed information down to me because, ultimately, everyone here wants to get to as high as possible, whether the Championship or Premier League.

‘He’s quite an attacking-minded coach and puts on good crossing sessions on the training pitch, which helps me and gives you confidence.

‘Although I don’t remember him as a player and I haven’t seen his clips either. Sorry Jon!

‘But you can see he has quality, he still joins in with training and has a good go. He’s good actually.’