'It's time for the truth': Portsmouth man's representative on contract situation - and claims Charlton made January bid for reported West Brom and Blackburn target

Now they risk losing the 22-year-old on a free transfer unless they start handing him first-team opportunities.

That’s the message from the Mingi’s football representative, who is adamant the talented midfielder retains an open mind about staying at Fratton Park.

Mingi was offered a pay rise and three-year deal in December, with the Blues eager to keep one of their success stories during a frustrating opening half of the campaign.

Such was his form, his agent insists three League One clubs, including Charlton, attempted to buy him in the transfer window.

In addition, a number of Championship clubs were monitoring the youngster’s progress with a view to a potential summer move, with West Brom, Birmingham and Blackburn previously linked.

However, Mingi has not played a minute of first-team action since a substitute outing on New Year's Day in Danny Cowley’s last match in charge.

His representative says the former West Ham youngster remains happy at Pompey, with staying at the club he joined in September 2021 still in his thoughts.

Yet with currently no first-team involvement, despite a mid-February return from knee ligament damage, Mingi is questioning whether he has a future under John Mousinho.

And his representative claims a possible summer departure could net Pompey around £30,000 in training compensation – far less than the transfer fees they turned down in January.

A spokesman for Mingi told The News: ‘Pompey’s fans have been fantastic to Jay, he’s loving his time at Pompey, enjoys living in the area, he’s a lovely lad who’s enjoying playing at Fratton Park.

‘It’s time for the truth. As one the bottom-three earners at the club, he was offered a new contract in December, but didn’t want to rush into a three-year commitment.

‘It wasn’t to say that he’s leaving, it wasn’t to say there were any issues, it was to say “Okay, we’ve got the rest of the season to see what my opportunities are within that team”.

‘He also had heavy interest from a number of League One clubs in January, with bids coming in worth more money than Pompey are due in training compensation should he sign somewhere else in the summer.

‘Two seasons of training compensation is probably going to be around £30,000. The offers that came in were substantially more, maybe double what Pompey would earn. They rejected them.

‘That would indicate to me – and anyone with common sense – you're turning down more money in advance than you’d be due at the end of the season because you have the intention of playing him.

‘Jay got an injury in training before the Spurs game which kept him out and killed his momentum, obviously making him unavailable for the new manager.

‘But he has been fully fit since mid-February and hasn’t had a sniff, although last week rolled his ankle.

‘Jay has been told by the club they want to work with players who they feel are going to be here long-term – yet Jay wants to be here, he’s not a bad egg.

‘He hasn’t turned down the offer. He can stay, there’s a contract still on the table for him, but he needs to play games.’

Following an impressive pre-season, coupled with injuries in the centre of midfield, Mingi featured in all but three of the Blues’ opening 28 matches in all competitions this term.

That included a maiden Football League start at Forest Green in October and his first senior goals, both arriving in cup competitions.

And his representative claims that encouraging progress had, at the time, caught the attention of Championship admirers.

He added: ‘There were Championship clubs sniffing around with a view to the end of the season, but I don’t think you can make a decision off five months of football.

‘If Jay had continued on that trajectory, he would be going to the Championship in the summer, but obviously that’s not there now because he hasn’t played in the second half of the season.

‘Jay just wants to play games, but the door isn’t shut on staying at Pompey, the contract is still there.’