Portsmouth boss reveals extent of Nico Schmid bargain as keeper’s form soars

And the Blues keeper has backed one of the stars of his side’s Championship season to make the international grade, after being snubbed for an Austria call-up.

Schmid is now 29 games into his Fratton career, following his arrival from BW Linz last August on a two-year deal with a club option to extend for 12 months.

The 28-year-old has been a revelation since breaking into the first team with his level-headed performances catching the eye, along with a rock-solid all-round game.

Schmid has also continually excelled making outstanding stops to save points, with last weekend’s success over Leeds United a classic case in point.

Mousinho lauded the 6ft 5in man’s form at Pompey and just what a cute piece of business it was in bringing in the keeper, with a fee of 400,000 Euros attributed to the deal when it was completed.

The Blues boss stated it was a ‘low six figure’ feel spent to bring in Schmid, which is now looking a ridiculously impressive deal.

He said: ‘Nico has been a huge part of where we’ve managed to get to in the league this year. Sunday was a big example of that, where he was required to make some big saves - that’s why we brought him in.

‘We took a bit of time to make sure we were comfortable bringing him into the football club. At the moment we feel like it was the right decision.

‘Nico was a really, really sensible bit of business for us.

‘He was not expensive at all, relatively, and we’re extremely pleased with what we got him for. I think, off the top of my head it was low six figures so we’re very happy with that.

‘That level of goalkeeper isn’t going to be available in England for that sort of fee.’

Austria snub for Pompey

Given his Pompey form, there was some eyebrows raised when Schmid was not named in Austria’s squad by coach Ralf Rangnick for their upcoming Nations League play-off with Serbia. Mousinho can’t see his keeper being overlooked for his country for too much longer, if his present form continues.

He added: ‘Nico’s a player we see every day and we admire, so it’s slightly surprising he hasn’t had the call-up for the squad in this window. But it’s his first run of games in the Championship, so with some more consistency I’m sure he’ll be knocking the door.’

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