'I've been unfortunate': Portsmouth's in-demand Australian on injury frustrations now behind him - and time to kick on his career

By his own admission, the 24-year-old Pompey new boy hasn’t played nearly enough at this stage of his football development.

The 6ft 3in striker’s promising progress has primarily been impacted by injury, hindering his time at firstly Adelaide and then Western Sydney Wanderers.

Encouragingly over the last 18 months, though, Yengi's sole notable absence was caused by a three-week hamstring issue.

And the former Australian under-23 international arrives at Fratton Park with renewed belief that he’s now ready to fulfil potential recognised by worldwide summer transfer interest.

Yengi told The News: ‘I had quite a few offers from places around the world, among them Singapore, Dubai, Turkey and France, but it was John (Mousinho) and Pompey’s coaching staff who sold the club to me.

‘I’m at a stage in my career where I’m not chasing money, I want to develop as a player, I want to play games, I want to get better as a footballer, I want to fight for things, to try to win titles.

‘There's so much I have to prove, so much I can achieve in my career if I really dig down and give 100 per cent of everything. I believe I can get as high as I want.

‘I really haven’t played too many games in my professional career – and that has been due to injuries.

‘I’ve had quite a few injuries in my short career, most of them were quite unlucky, nothing specific due to my lifestyle and the way I treat my body. I’ve just been unfortunate.

‘When I first started playing professional football, I grew a lot in a short period of time. The training load went from training with the youth team three-times-a-week to training with the first-team five-times-a-week.

‘My body just couldn't cope with that, it hadn’t been conditioned, so I went through a period when I struggled a little with a few different injuries. Nothing really major, niggly things.

‘Then in December 2021, I had a big injury to my right quad, which required surgery, so missed three-and-a-half months of the season – but since then haven't really had any problems.

‘Last year I did a lot of strengthening work and worked on things to help me stay injury free and since then there’s been a hamstring, but that was nothing more than three weeks.

‘My body feels really good now and I’m raring to go with Pompey.’

Pompey are presently applying the brakes to the striker, who arrived in England on Thursday after more than 24 hours of travelling – and then flew to Spain with his new team-mates early on Sunday morning.

He joins international trio Paddy Lane, Gavin Whyte and Joe Morrell in entering Pompey’s pre-season a week later and, at present, are working away from the rest of the squad under Shaun North as they acclimatise.

As a consequence, they won’t be risked for the opening friendly against Europa FC on Thursday (5.30pm kick-off UK time).

Yengi added: ‘My season finished in May and since then I’ve been training regularly with my brother Tete, who plays for Ipswich and has been back in Australia.

‘I’ve been keeping my body well, fit and conditioned, but with the travelling and a little jet lag, you don’t want to rush me and the other boys who have come into it a week later.

‘It’s better we catch up with the team in due time.’