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And John Mousinho explained eyes will be on the promising midfielder, as he gets a chance to assess his talent after a return to fitness.

Mingi made his return to action at Bournemouth in the Hampshire Senior Cup on Tuesday night, after nearly three months out with a knee injury picked up in training.

The 22-year-old had shown some decent form in the final months of 2022, with talk of interest from the Championship building after some forceful displays.

Now, though, Mousinho believes the task for the Londoner is to build a bank of solid form and show what he can do.

Mousinho said: ‘We know what Jay is capable of, it’s about trying to harness that on a more consistent basis.

‘We need to get him doing that week-in, week-out and not just in games but on the training pitch as well.

‘He has the ability to do things other players in this league can’t do.

‘So the challenge really is to put that in a more consistent place for Jay, then the options will be plenty.

‘We’ve seen glimpses of what we can do and it’s turning glimpses into consistency.

‘It (contract and training compensation) is a conversation above me. I will have a football input in it, but it’s one for Rich (Hughes) and the recruitment team, in terms of what contract is offered and what compensation looks like.

‘In terms of the model, though, keeping young players is the goal at the moment.’

After not featuring for Mousinho since his January arrival, the Pompey boss feels the former Charlton and West Ham man can’t get ahead of himself in terms of targets.

He added: ‘It’s just challenging for a spot, first in the squad because he’s not been in the squad. Then he needs to prove himself worthy of a place in the starting line-up as well.

‘That’s not just tough for Jay, but tough for everybody particularly when the lads are on a run of good form.

‘So that’s the challenge for Jay and the rest of the players, really.

‘Once we’ve seen what he’s produced between now and the end of the season, we’ll see what the future looks like for Jay beyond that.

‘They are always fighting for something, whether you’re out of contract or not.

‘I haven’t seen Jay play any first-team football apart from the Hampshire Senior Cup.

‘It’s obviously up for him to prove to me he’s worthy of a starting spot.

‘Then, at that point, we can have a good look and assess him in that setting.’