No vacancies: The Portsmouth position already fully stocked after excellent recruitment planning
Pompey have their full quota of goalkeepers already - unlike this time last year
Cam Plain’s campaign suffered an untimely ending, having dislocated a finger for Wimborne Town with three matches remaining.
The goalkeeper had started the football season attending Pompey’s summer training camp in Medulin, Croatia, albeit purely as a stop-gap.
Having been released by Bournemouth, the 22-year-old was invited by his former Academy goalkeeping coach Joe Prodomo to serve as stand-in fourth-choice stopper on the July 2024 seven-day tour.
While Plain deputised, Pompey were looking elsewhere for new goalkeeping talent. Ultimately, that would be Nicolas Schmid from Austrian side BW Linz, seven weeks later.
‘At the minute we’re looking for a little more experience in that area. You can never say never, but it’s just very clearly a mutually beneficial situation for both.’
Plain would later be introduced at half-time of Pompey’s 3-0 friendly win over the Hawks in July 2024, before leaving Fratton Park and linking up with Poole Town and then Wimborne last term.
Pompey at their full quota before Slovakia
This pre-season, the Blues aren’t faced with such an issue, with their quota of four goalkeepers already determined ahead of next weekend’s Slovakian training camp.
Jordan Archer and Toby Steward remain from this time last year, while Schmid is the undisputed number one, having finished runner-up in The News/Sports Mail’s Player of the Season vote.
Finally there’s Ben Killip, who earlier this month signed a new two-year contract, having initially joined on a short-term deal from Barnsley in January.
Club video and photos from Pompey’s three-day stay at The Lensbury hotel, Teddington, portray Prodomo hard at work with his gang of four ahead of a second successive season in the Championship.
The goalkeeping department, along with the right-back pool, represent the two areas of John Mousinho’s squad which don’t require strengthening during this summer’s transfer window.
Schmid will be first choice, Archer and Killip will battle it out on the bench, while Steward is earmarked for another Football League loan following the success of his short stay at Crawley last term.
Certainly SportsBoom linking Arsenal Academy graduate Karl Hein to a £1m Fratton Park switch makes absolutely no sense - unless a departure is on the cards to facilitate a new goalkeeping addition.
Still, while there are glaring holes in the centre of midfield, both flanks and up front, with urgent recruitment absolutely necessary, Promodo has the relative luxury of being to work with a fully-stocked department throughout pre-season.
It’s a well-planned and well-implemented recruitment strategy, reflecting the excellent organisational skills of the goalkeeping coach, overseen by sporting director Rich Hughes.
A genuine pathway for highly-rated Portsmouth youngster
Indeed, the rare Academy shining light that is Toby Steward also appears to possess a genuine pathway, having already amassed around 150 games before the age of 21, following stints at Bognor, Salisbury, Gosport, Tonbridge Angels, Wealdstone and, of course, Crawley.
Having three senior goalkeepers on their books will once again allow Steward to depart on loan for more first-team matches to benefit his hugely promising development.
Killip could even emerge as Schmid’s first-choice back up this season, thereby nudging Archer down the list, following his two starts at the end of last term when his contract was expiring.
Three years Archer’s junior and with 163 more appearances since May 2019, certainly the former Hartlepool man ticks a number of boxes when agonising over who will occupy the bench for the first game against Oxford United.
‘Maybe he came in for a bit of criticism’
And while Killip drew some fans for his display in the 1-1 draw against Hull on the final day, those who witnessed his Pompey debut the previous week at Sheffield Wednesday would regard his talents far more highly.
‘I think that was more for his distribution than his actual goalkeeping. If you look at his actual goalkeeping performance, I don’t think there was anything he could’ve done about the goal.
‘Before the goal he made a really big save from a long throw, a really big and excellent save. He then made another really big save at 1-1 toward the back end of the game with no mistakes in between.
‘Distribution-wise he knows he could’ve done better, but with those two games we brought him in we were really comfortable with Ben - so we wanted to extend his stay at the football club.’
With four contracted goalkeepers committed to Fratton Park, the head coach finds himself with plenty of options in the campaign ahead - and one less position to worry about strengthening.
As for Cam Plain, his future is also assured, having signed an 18-month deal with Wimborne in February and, it seems, largely impressing before sustaining injury in the final minute of a victory over Basingstoke.
What a difference a year makes.