'It feels like a fresh signing': John Mousinho on Portsmouth's sixth summer transfer recruit - sort of

Tom McIntyre’s first-team involvement was restricted to just 53 minutes before an ankle break ended his campaign prematurely.

The central defender recruited from Reading trained twice ahead of earning his Blues bow against Northampton in January, partnering Conor Shaughnessy.

That proved to be the luckless McIntyre’s sole Pompey involvement in their League One title win - but now the 25-year-old is back, featuring regularly in pre-season injury-free.

And for Mousinho, who has already signed five new players, this feels like another.

He told The News: ‘We’ve seen far too little of Tom. We had 53 minutes of really good football against Northampton - and he’s been out with that ankle break since.

‘He’s actually been fit for a long time, but that overlapped with the summer, so pre-season is the first time he’s been able to train with us again.

‘It’s a real bonus, it feels like a fresh signing in terms of where we are this summer with the centre-backs.

‘We signed Tom as a centre-back and that certainly is going to be where he needs to try to challenge. As soon as he came in, you could see how highly we rate him, straight into the side at a time where we had a strong position in the league.

‘He was selected off the back of two wins and a draw, and two clean sheets, but we still thought it was right to bring Tom into the side. We see him really challenging for that first-team spot at centre-half.

‘Tom’s in the same boat as all the other players. He impressed us enough for us to sign him from Reading and impressed us enough in a couple of training sessions to get him into the side against Northampton.

‘The important thing for every player is to win that shirt.’

As a left-footed defender, McIntyre will compete with Ryley Towler for that slot, potentially allowing Conor Shaughnessy to switch across and operate as the right-sided centre-half.

Regan Poole is another defensive choice, although won’t be ready for the season’s start after recovering from his ACL.

Mousinho added: ‘Of the four centre-halves in the building, Ryley and Tom are on the left-hand side, with Regan and Conor Shaughnessy on the right.

‘I would like players to be flexible in terms of the way they can play across the back, that’s really important for us.

‘Most of the time they have the ability to play both sides. Sometimes it affects the way we play out, but most of the time, like Shocks (Shaughnessy) last season, they are equally good playing on both sides.’