Portsmouth D-Day for ex-Norwich, Barnsley, Arsenal man in pursuit of a deal

The former Arsenal and Norwich winger has been training with the Blues since towards the end of September.

A free agent following his Carrow Road exit in the summer, the 22-year-old is presently living in the area with his girlfriend, who is from Warblington.

That saw him approach Pompey asking for the possibility of training with the League One table-toppers.

Now, following more than a fortnight with the Blues, Mousinho is nearing a decision on Martin’s future.

He told The News: ‘Josh trained with us again on Tuesday. What we wanted to do was get the Gillingham game out of the way because we have a natural break and will see where things sit.

‘We have another training session this morning which he will be part of – and then we’ll go from there.

‘We are not ruling anything out at this time, but the same sort of message applies in terms of the squad, where we are and whether we’re looking to add to that.

‘As it stands at the moment, there doesn't seem to be a desperate need to add to the squad, although that’s not to say we’re looking at Josh and completely dismissing him.’

With four players on international duty, Pompey are out of action this weekend.

From Thursday, they will instead be granted four days off, before returning on Monday to build up to the League One visit of Carlisle (October 21).

In the meantime, Martin will be hoping he has sufficiently impressed to remain with the Blues.

Mousinho added: ‘Why Josh hasn’t got a club is a really interesting one and hard for us to say.

‘When a free agent like that is still available in October, of course you have to try to look at the circumstances behind that.

‘But, in terms of him being a player capable at this level, he has shown he is and I’m sure he will be able to get back on the horse wherever that is.

‘It's a difficult one for us to assess because when he has trained with us he’s been good.’