Portsmouth boss set to make call on way forward for Jack Whatmough

Kenny Jackett will consider a loan move for Jack Whatmough.
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The Pompey boss will weigh up the path forward for the defender in pre-season as he accelerates his return from injury.

Whatmough is back with the Blues first-team set-up after opting out of group training sessions with his fiance pregnant through the coronavirus crisis.

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After she gave birth to a healthy daughter, the Gosport lad is back with the rest of the squad with Jackett reporting the 23-year-old looks to be in good condition.

It’s a big season for Whatmough, who has a year on his existing deal, after he put a long-term knee injury behind him with a return in January and an outing at Peterborough shortly before the football season was suspended.

Jackett has to consider if he believes the academy graduate is ready to come back in to regular action at League One level, or some game time away from PO4 is preferable.

Whatmough, Paul Downing and Sean Raggett are the options in the middle and Jackett has indicated he’s content with those, although Pompey are looking to bring in another player in that area.

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The Pompey boss stated he will be closely monitoring Whatmough’s work in the coming weeks.

Jack Whatmough has returned for pre-season training in good shape.  Picture: Habibur RahmanJack Whatmough has returned for pre-season training in good shape.  Picture: Habibur Rahman
Jack Whatmough has returned for pre-season training in good shape. Picture: Habibur Rahman

He said: ‘Jack is back in training, looks slim and is ready to work.

‘It will be very interesting to see how he goes in this pre-season period.

‘You have to take things on face value. Jack’s fine now and he doesn’t miss any training sessions.

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‘The pre-season period is pretty tough with how hard the pitches are. We’ve got a heatwave coming and generally a pre-season period can shape your season.

‘With Jack, I think that will be the case.

‘We’ll see what happens (regarding a loan). At the moment, I’m working with three centre-backs and am happy with those.’

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