John Mousinho addresses defender's Portsmouth future after first-season struggles
The former Peterborough man totalled 14 appearances in a maiden Blues season impacted by injury
Josh Knight still has a future at Pompey, according to John Mousinho.
With Pompey eager to offload players this summer, naturally a centre-half department which boasts six contracted defenders will come under scrutiny.
The former Leicester man endured an injury-wrecked maiden season on the south coast following his August 2025 arrival from Hannover 96, totalling 14 appearances.
Having been sidelined for seven months with a back issue, the 28-year-old returned to action in pre-season, featuring in every training session, while facing Woking and Aldershot in friendlies.
And while Knight missed Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Bristol Rovers through illness, Mousinho insists he currently has no plans to part with the central defender.
‘It never helps’
The Blues’ head coach told The News: ‘It’s one where we’ve got six centre-backs in the building at the minute. We have spoken about Ibs (Bowatt) potentially going, so it’s just about those other five competing for two starting spots.
‘If you look at our injury record at the back, in particular, we’ve had Shocks over the couple of years, Hayden Matthews over the last 18 months, although Regan has now got himself in a really good rhythm.
‘Jojo is new to the game and keeps himself pretty fit, while Josh missed a lot of last year as well, so we have to be very careful how we deal with that.
‘John was coming into a good spot of form when he picked up that (back) injury, I remember him playing a couple of games and being impressed.
‘He had a stop-start pre-season last summer with moving back over from Germany, a very broken up pre-season as well, which never helps.
‘We got him into a half-decent flow in terms of the fitness levels and playing in the side and understanding what we want from him - and, unfortunately, he then picked up an injury.’
Costly Aldershot error
Last week’s trip to Woking represented Knight’s first appearance since November 29, when he started against Bristol City in the Championship.
With Mousinho fielding a team for each half against the non-leaguers, Knight lined-up at right back for the second period and was involved in the build up for Thomas Waddingham’s winner.
The following day, the Blues travelled to Aldershot, with Knight returning to his centre-half role and lining up in a team consisting of five teenagers.
However, with Pompey already trailing 1-0 after 34 minutes, he was caught in possession by John Gilbert, who then squared to Marcus Dinanga to double the National League club’s advantage.
Days later, Knight wasn’t included against Bristol Rovers through illness, with Conor Shaughnessy and Regan Poole starting the match before being replaced by Madiodio Dia and Hayden Matthews after 62 minutes.
‘He has trained in every session’
Mousinho added: ‘Everybody will be disappointed with their performance at Aldershot and it was a tough one for me to assess because of the amount of young players we had involved as well.
‘I thought Josh at Woking did pretty well playing out of position and he’s been good in pre-season. He has also trained in every session.
‘He’s definitely over the back injury, but we have to make sure. When you have a significant injury, usually when you come back it’s something else which goes.’