The Slovakia interview which sheds light on Callum Lang’s Portsmouth mindset
The Fratton favourite has been linked with £2m interest from Preston North End
Midway through Pompey’s Slovakian training camp, an upbeat Callum Lang was emphatic over the direction of his Pompey future.
Yet 10 days earlier, during an interview with The News from the X-Bionic Sphere resort in Samorin, the attacker couldn’t have made his stance any clearer.
Lang spoke of being content with life, having married in the Lake District in June, with former team-mates Tom Lowery and Owen Moxon in attendance.
Such is the strength of the positive message delivered by the 26-year-old in that interview, he also revealed his desire to commit himself to the Blues for longer, with his existing contract having entered its final year, albeit with an additional 12-month club option.
‘A new Pompey contract would be an easy conversation’
Speaking on July 9, Lang told The News: ‘I’m really settled, the missus is back down with the dogs and we are enjoying it.
‘It’s a nice little dog walk down Southsea and we are always out for a coffee and food. We have two Frenchies. My missus is enjoying it and I’m enjoying it down here. Hopefully I will be down here for a long time.
‘There’s a year left on my contract, so hopefully that can be something which gets started at some point. I do enjoy it down here. There have been no conversations about that yet, I’ll just see how that goes.
‘I’m enjoying it here, so I think it (the contract) will be an easy conversation if it ever comes about. For now, I am just concentrating on my football and I’m enjoying it.’
Andy Cullen has addressed the Preston rumours
Lang and John Mousinho have yet to address those Preston rumours which emerged on Saturday, albeit that is primarily down to circumstance rather than avoidance.
The former Wigan man wasn’t involved in Saturday’s friendly with Crawley as he closes in on a return from a hamstring issue. Neither was he expected to be, according to his head coach days earlier after the Woking match.
As for Mousinho, it was pre-planned the head coach wouldn’t conduct any post-match interviews following the weekend 1-0 victory over the League Two side, on account of being recategorized as a behind-closed-doors game at Pompey’s training ground.
Blues chief executive Andy Cullen has spoken, though. However, it was masterfully diplomatic, refusing to become entangled with those Preston rumours, yet referring to them as ‘unsubstantiated links’.
Lake District wedding last month
It leaves Lang’s now 13-day old interview from Slovakia as the most recent evidence of his Pompey mindset, certainly publicly.
At the time he added: ‘This is married life now and it’s nice. I’ve been with my missus since we were 17, we have been together a long time.
‘We were married last month in the Lake District, a long way from Pompey, but we chose the venue when I was still at Wigan. It was booked up two years in advance, then I signed for Pompey.
‘The journey from Portsmouth to the Lakes was pretty far to be honest, but I was back home anyway in the summer. It’s only under two hours from Liverpool.
‘When I was in Liverpool, I used to spend a lot of time in the Lakes with the dogs and having a walk around there. But I’m enjoying it down here now.’
Your Next Pompey Read: Pompey chief responds to reports of Preston £2m bid for star man Callum Lang