'He has the world at his feet': Portsmouth faithful reassured Jacob Farrell wait will be worth it
The two-time A-League winner joined Pompey from Central Coast Mariners in July 2024
Pompey have been reassured they possess ‘the perfect modern-day left-back’ in Jacob Farrell.
And former team-mate Kusini Yengi is looking forward to finally seeing the 22-year-old thrive at Fratton Park once free from injury.
Farrell’s maiden south-coast season was devastated by a persistent medial collateral ligament injury to his knee, restricting him to just one appearance in 2024-25.
Encouragingly, the former Central Coast Mariners man was back for the start of Pompey pre-season training on Tuesday, which opened with two days of testing.
And Yengi is adamant the Fratton faithful have a ‘great player’ on their hands.
‘He has the world at his feet’
He told The News: ‘Jacob is a great player and the fans were probably able to get a bit of a taste of that in that one game he did start against Sheffield United. He had the chance to wing the game in the dying moments from a corner.
‘He’s a top left-back and has the world at his feet right now. He’s had a bit of trouble with that knee of his and I am sure he will get that right, but Pompey have a great player.
‘Jacob’s a left-back who really prides himself on his defending, he gets really stuck in and is great in a one-v-one, he’s an athlete, he can run up and down all day.
‘He also has really good attacking qualities - he’s probably the perfect modern-day left-back.’
Yengi has moved to Aberdeen following his Pompey exit at the season’s end, but Fratton Park’s Australian contingent has since been boosted back up to four.
The arrival of Adrian Segecic reunites him with former Sydney FC team-mate Hayden Matthews, while Thomas Waddingham is also on the Blues’ books.
Matthews made his Socceroos debut in the same team as Yengi, with both starting in a 2-2 draw with Bahrain in November, in which the striker netted twice.
The central defender subsequently moved to Pompey along with Waddingham in January, with the young pair both featuring in John Mousinho’s side before injury prematurely ended both of their seasons.
And Yengi has also been impressed by their contributions to the Blues so far.
‘I’m sure he will have a great career at Portsmouth’
He added: ‘I didn't know too much about Hayden before he came to Pompey, but I was also able to play with him for Australia.
‘He really surprised me with the level he was at being such a young boy and not having played much football professionally.
‘Hayden’s got a lot of speed for a bit of a taller guy and is really confident when it comes to wanting the ball. He’s hard-working and really driven. I’m sure he will have a great career at Pompey.
‘As for Thomas, he’s a fantastic young striker with a lovely left foot on him. He’s energetic, always buzzing around in training getting shots off. I hope to see him in the future scoring a lot of goals for Pompey.’
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