Portsmouth boss addresses Regan Poole contract situation and Fratton Park future

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John Mousinho wants Regan Poole to stay at Fratton Park beyond this season.

But the head coach insists his focus remains fixed on keeping Pompey in the Championship rather than players’ futures.

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Having been sidelined for 11 months of his time on the south coast through injury, it has been a start-start Pompey career so far for the Welshman.

Regan Poole is out of contract at Fratton Park at the end of the season. Picture: Jason Brown/ProSportsImagesRegan Poole is out of contract at Fratton Park at the end of the season. Picture: Jason Brown/ProSportsImages
Regan Poole is out of contract at Fratton Park at the end of the season. Picture: Jason Brown/ProSportsImages | Jason Brown/ProSportsImages

Regardless, his quality is obvious, with Mousinho eager for the ex-Manchester United defender to remain.

Although with the Blues’ boss presently concentrating on building on their recent good form, the matter of Poole’s future is in the hands of sporting director Rich Hughes.

The Blues boss told The News: ‘Regan’s future is not something which concerns me, I am solely focused on what we are doing against Norwich (on Tuesday night).

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‘There are plenty of people working in the background to try to make sure all those things are tied up and I’m sure that’s something on Rich’s agenda, alongside anything we can do in January.

‘Thankfully for me, I don’t have to get involved in that. The question has come into me about whether you would like to have Regan next year and the answer is obviously yes - if we can get something done on the contract then that would be great.

‘It’s at the very back of my mind. I would like Regan to stay at the football club for a long time, but, at the moment, all our energy and all of our focus has to be on the next game.

‘We can focus all we want on next season, the most important thing is we are in the Championship and not in League One, so that’s where we are focusing and we will deal with anything on the back end of it.’

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The Wales international has made 13 appearances so far this season, including 12 successive starts since returning to the side at Burnley in September.

And Mousinho believes the recent international break has benefited the 26-year-old as he still feels his way back from his ACL injury.

‘I am saying that from experience because I had the same injury and, after returning, three months later I realised that I’d been struggling through those weeks and it’s tough, it’s really tough.

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‘You’re just not quite there, half-a-yard off here and there, running on adrenaline a lot of the time, your fitness needs to improve - and that was something we were really aware of with Regan.

‘I felt the international break came at a good time for him, it was a really important reset for him.

‘On Saturday (against Bristol City) and in a tough, tough game at Swansea, we saw a much more assured and much more comfortable Regan Poole-like performance from him.’

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