'I'll look at him for the first time next season': John Mousinho on the Portsmouth player he has never met

Nonetheless, he’s relishing finally having Haji Mnoga at his disposal during pre-season ahead of the 2023-24 campaign.

The powerful defender departed on loan for Aldershot last month – three days before Mousinho’s appointment as head coach.

With the National League side operating full-time, it means Mnoga hasn’t trained with the Blues since the move, while has been an ever-present in the Shots’ team.

As a consequence, by a curious quirk, his path has still to cross with Mousinho, albeit nothing sinister in that fact.

Yet the Blues boss is monitoring the 20-year-old’s progress from afar with great interest – and one eye on next season.

Mousinho told The News: ‘Haji isn’t training with us like the other loans because he’s out at Aldershot full-time.

‘While there have been limited opportunities for me to actually go and see him live because of the fact Aldershot, for the most part, play on the same days as us.

‘We can keep a constant eye on him because of the amount of video analysis there with Rich and I watching him the other day. By all accounts, he’s doing well and they really like him there.

‘It will be an interesting one for us to look at next pre-season when he comes into the building and I can take a proper look at him for the first time.

‘What I know about Haji is he’s a young, aggressive centre-half, excellent in terms of the ability to win duels and headers, a really good defender and can drive out from the back.

‘There’s quite a bit of positivity because of how powerful he is, so he’s quite an exciting young prospect overall.

‘However, alI I know of him is what I’ve seen on the footage we’ve been watching over the last couple of weeks, and it’s part of my job to try to get as familiar as I can with him.

‘It’s quite a difficult one and one of the nuances that, when you come to a club, sometimes you haven't actually seen some of the squad play in the flesh.’

Mnoga has started Aldershot’s last eight matches, primarily as a right-sided centre-half in a back three.

The Shots, who suffered a 4-3 home defeat to Wrexham last weekend courtesy of a 96th-minute winner, are presently 14th in the National League.

Mousinho added: ‘Unlike Liam (Vincent), Dan (Gifford) and Alfie (Bridgman) they are on loan at part-time clubs, so continue to train with us, whereas Haji is full-time.

‘On one Tuesday night without a game, I watched Bognor against Bishop’s Stortford, which was a good opportunity for me to see Dan and Alfie, as those chances have unfortunately been pretty limited.

‘The more of those youngsters we can see, the better. It’s the right thing to do, I want to see how the young players are all getting on.’