Portsmouth boss delivers crucial Academy pledge as D-Day looms for next generation

And John Mousinho is adamant there remains a first-team pathway for ‘anybody who is good enough’.

Clout and fellow second-year scholars Connor May, Luke Staight, Jayden Keteku and Cody Howard will learn on Monday whether they are to be retained.

Last summer, the Blues released all 10 of their Academy graduates, including Koby Mottoh, Harvey Laidlaw and Jack Fox, plus third-year scholar Destiny Ojo.

Indeed, only Josh Dockerill has earned a professional deal during the previous two seasons, with Pompey’s youth production line running to a trickle in recent times.

In the case of Clout, the energetic winger made his Blues debut against Wycombe in the FA Cup in January, while has been an unused substitute in four Championship matches this term.

As first-team head coach, naturally Mousinho is involved in the decision process and last year sat in on such meetings with the youngsters.

Yet despite concerns over the Academy’s effectiveness, he believes the first-team door always remains open for young talent who impress.

Mousinho told The News: ‘There’s a pathway for anybody who is good enough.

‘It doesn't bother me about timing. If a player is 18 and we think they are going to develop into that player we need, we will give them those four years. Toby Steward is a really good example of that.

‘We don’t have an under-21s programme, which is fine, we have to deal with that. We must make sure that if we recognise a player who is good enough to, at some point, impact the Portsmouth first-team at whatever age when coming out of the Academy, then we sign them.

‘Harry (Clout) has obviously been with the first-team this season and training with us whenever we have needed to take a better look at him.

‘We have got to a stage now where we have some very, very promising younger players coming through.

‘If you look at the Academy side that has been put out in the last few weeks. On Tuesday against Plymouth we had one 14-year-old, plus Ashton Sizer has played a huge amount as an under-16, which is really, really promising. There are quite a few coming from those age groups.

‘It’s a real priority for us to drive that recruitment of Academy players from that early stage. We have a chance of trying to keep them in the Academy and we have a chance of trying to keep them in the first-team.’

Five Waiting To Learn Their Fate

Of the five awaiting their fate, May is a Scottish striker who has scored seven times this season, including in the FA Youth Cup third-round clash with Leeds in December.

Skipper Staight has started 22 matches this term - more than any other Academy player - while attacking midfielder Keteku and centre-half Cody Howard complete the list.

Mousinho added: ‘It’s a very, very difficult thing in terms of where we are at the moment as a category and where we are geographically competing with the likes of Brighton, Bournemouth and Southampton.

‘It’s difficult, right - and that’s something we are trying to catch up with. But where we are as a football club, we’re not quite there in all of those areas at the moment.

‘We’ve only just moved into this training ground building, the training ground is fairly new, we have a whole lot of work to do around that, and are still in the infancy of a lot of projects.

‘But certainly we’re trying to focus on the long-term development of the Academy.’

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