Portsmouth boss provides significant injury update over former Arsenal man after lengthy absence

The 22-year-old has been absent with a groin injury, with his last appearance coming against Peterborough at the end of January.

This meant the right-back was sidelined for the Blues’ remaining 20 games of the campaign, with John Mousinho’s men eventually missing out on the play-offs.

Although he returned to training at the end of April, the head coach ruled Swanson out of Pompey’s final two remaining games of the campaign.

The Blues begin their pre-season camp next Monday and the Blues boss has revealed the ex-Arsenal man will be fit to return.

Mousinho told The News: ‘Zak is back. He had a couple of weeks at the back end of last season where he trained fully and built up to training in the last week of the season.

‘It’s been really important for Zak over the summer to make sure that he keeps on top of his program physically and comes back at the start of pre-season firing.

‘We can’t afford to have him miss the amount of games he missed. I think he missed 20 consecutive games at the back end of last season and for a young player, who needs to push to break into the side this season, the first thing he needs to do is make sure everything is intact physically.

‘Zak and I have had that conversation and he’s fully bought into that and it would be really good to have him back in the squad and back in the fold on Monday and push for that starting spot.’

Swanson arrived in the second week of last season’s pre-season training, when he signed from Arsenal for an undisclosed fee.

And after completing his maiden campaign in the EFL, Mousinho believes the young defender will thrive on a full training camp before the term gets under way in August.

He added: ‘It’s really important (to have a full pre-season as a young player).

‘That goes for everyone but for Zak coming into his first season in league football last season, to go through the ups and the downs and the injuries he went through then it’s going to stand him in really good stead for the start of next year.

‘What he needs to do now is have that good pre-season and be back ready for the season.’