'I bang on about it - he needs to reset things': Portsmouth boss' blunt message to underperforming ex-Cardiff and Oxford man

Although the Blues head coach believes there’s still plenty of time for the winger to force his way into his Championship side.

Whyte returned to full training at the end of last week after an injury-hit beginning to pre-season, sidelining him from the opening three friendlies.

The Northern Ireland international desperately needed a flying start this summer off the back of a hugely disappointing opening campaign at Fratton Park, irrespective of being a title-winner.

Instead his frustrating stay on the south coast has continued - but Mousinho remains optimistic.

He told The News: ‘Gavin’s had a couple of injuries, but it was more personal issues last year which made it a stop-start for him at Pompey.

‘I bang on about it, we talk about how much promise Gavin has got, and he needs to really reset things and go again, trying to show that this season.

‘We’ve still got plenty of time. I spoke to Gav on Friday and the challenge is that when he gets back into the swing of things - and he’s had a couple of training sessions now - he really needs to up his fitness levels and make sure he has involvement over the next couple of games (friendlies).

‘It’s the same with all of the players, in particular with some of the lads like Anthony (Scully) and Gavin. They need game time and to be judged in terms of what they produce when they actually play.

‘He still has time. We want players to be able to perform on a single day in training and really impress, but these guys still have pre-season games.

‘So there’s plenty of time for things to change between now and the first game of the season. Even when the season starts there’s plenty of time for things to change subsequently.’

Whyte scored once in 33 Pompey appearances last season, yet started just four League One games after mid-September.

Ahead of the Championship campaign, he finds himself already well behind Paddy Lane and new signings Josh Murphy and Sammy Silvera.

Mousinho added: ‘Gavin actually started the opening eight league games of the season when we had a decent enough start.

‘We were top when Gavin came out of the side after Barnsley, he probably just didn’t have as many goals and assists as he would have liked at that point, although had the assist against Leyton Orient.

‘Apart from that he played decent enough football, but ever since coming out of the side he never really managed to get going after that.

‘He showed some real glimpses towards the back end of the season and the performance against Peterborough really stands out for me.’