Portsmouth boss reveals reason for ex-Sunderland man Denver Hume being left on sidelines after fine Fratton start

The versatile left-back became the Blues head coach’s fourth January acquisition, as the club parted with a £200,000 transfer fee to sign him from Sunderland.

But after starting six out of seven games since his arrival, he’s played only 12 minutes since.

After playing 73 minutes against Oxford United last week Hume was an unused substitute against Accrington, before making a cameo appearance against Crewe two days ago.

However, the Fratton chief has explained how he’s got to manage the defender’s minutes – following his lack of game-time across the first half of the season.

Although the 23-year-old penned a new deal in the north east in the summer, the controversy which preceded it saw him frozen out by Lee Johnson.

As a result Hume had only made four league appearances, including one start, ahead of his January move to the south coast.

Cowley said: ‘I think he’s a player that hadn’t played too much and hadn’t had that rhythm of games before he came in.

‘I think we’re just trying to manage him really carefully, and get him up to speed.

‘When he’s played, I think he’s done really well and he adds so much to the attacking aspect of our game in terms of his dynamism and his moments of quality with his crossing.’

After Pompey saw fixtures postponed around Christmas due to Covid followed by weather-inflicted cancellations, they’ve often played three game a weeks to fulfil matches.

This has been the case for the last two weeks, before the Blues play three times in nine days.

And Cowley revealed Hume is currently unable to meet the demands of their busy schedule.

He added: ‘For us, we know that a three-game week is a challenge for him at the moment and there’s some risk involved if we use him in a three-game week.

‘When you have as few players as we have, we’re not in the position to risk anyone.’

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