‘If not better…’: Middlesbrough arrival’s belief over Portsmouth taking on Leeds United, Sunderland, West Brom & Co in Championship

And the Blues new boy admitted he’s been ‘blown away’ by the standards being set at Fratton Park, following his season-long arrival from Middlesbrough.

Silvera joins John Mousinho’s men as they step up to the second tier, following a maiden campaign at that level after his move to the Riverside from Central Coast Mariners.

The 23-year-old got 37 Championship outings under his belt in a tumultuous Boro term, as he adjusted to new terrain in English football.

Silvera confirmed his arrival at Pompey at the start of the month, and has quickly been impressed by what he’s seen from his new team-mates.

And the Socceroo told how what he’s witnessed at PO4 is comparable, if not better, to what he went up against last term.

Silvera said: ‘The Championship is an up and down league.

‘From my first 12 months at Middlesbrough we were up, down, up down.

‘There was talk of relegation at one point and then we were close to promotion.

‘No matter what, on your day, if you’re at it, consistent mentally and up for it you can beat anyone.

‘The quality I’ve seen so far here is close to some of the teams there, if not better.

‘If we can keep working hard then it will come down to being clinical in both boxes.

‘If we can defend as a team, score as a team and take that winning mentality we have into games and outwork teams, I think we can win.’

Pompey boss Mousinho has spoken about being pleased at the level of fitness he’s seen from his players, since they returned for pre-season training.

The individual stats have been up across the board from 12 months ago, with a gruelling week of warm-weather training in Croatia followed by three quickfire local warm-up games.

Silvera was initially an onlooker as his Pompey deal was sealed, but from that moment on he’s liked what he’s seen from his new team-mates.

He added: ‘From the first day I came in I was watching the running and the standard was set with some big numbers.

‘It’s a good standard and, to be honest, I was blown away by the running stats over the first couple of days.

‘The standards being set here start with the gaffer and comes all the way down.

‘These are the standards we want to push higher and higher and from the captain, you can see he drives it. He wants to push and has that experience

‘As a playing group we are going to keep pushing and pushing, because this is where the hard work is done.’