'It has been difficult': £1m man addresses Portsmouth future after Fratton Park struggles
The South African midfielder made just 16 appearances in his first Blues season
Luke Le Roux reflected on a ‘difficult’ maiden Fratton Park season and insisted: My future remains at Pompey.
The South African international is adamant he has no intention of quitting Blues this summer after featuring just 16 times since joining from Swedish club IFK Varnamo.
While a regular in the match-day squad, the defensive midfielder struggled to earn first-team opportunities under John Mousinho, often unused off the bench.
However, a flurry of appearances in the final month of the campaign, including three starts in Pompey’s final eight matches, offered encouragement - for Le Roux as well as the Fratton faithful.
And the 26-year-old, who signed a three-year deal after arriving in July 2025, intends to stick it out on the south coast and fight for his spot.
‘I have to keep getting better’
Le Roux told The News: ‘You have to be patient, that’s the name of the game. For me it has been frustrating, really frustrating, being on the bench sometimes, being out of the squad, but that’s football, you have to do your best at all times.
‘Where I was before I used to play a lot, so this is something completely different, this is something new to me, which I have taken with both hands. I am ready whenever called upon.
‘If I’m not playing it’s for a reason, so I have to work on something, I have to keep getting better and I am happy with the progress. Maybe not 100 per cent satisfied, but it has been okay.
‘We said at the beginning it’s going to take time to adapt for all the players, especially coming from another country. I don’t want to use that as an excuse, but it will take time and with the right games.
‘That’s what the coach did in the beginning of the season, he played me for a few minutes, not throwing me straight in at the deep end, but, with the season panning out the way it did, I think it has been okay.
‘I have adapted, I think. It’s the pace of the game, the intensity, definitely something different from where I am from. Maybe I’m not 100 per cent there yet, but I am ready, it is much better than when I came here. Now I feel I know how it is, I have experienced it.
‘I still have a contract, so I will definitely still be here next season, we’ll see what happens. This is football, anything can happen, things go so fast, but I think I will still be here next year.
‘You haven’t seen the best of me yet, there is still more to come - and hopefully next season can be a better season.’
Pompey debut in August 2025
Le Roux made his Pompey debut in a 2-1 defeat to Reading in the Carabao Cup in August 2025, subsequently earning praise from an impressed Mousinho.
Yet Andre Dozzell, Marlon Pack, Ebou Adams, Mark Kosznovszky and even Zak Swanson were selected ahead of him in the midfield area at times.
Nonetheless, following the QPR debacle, Le Roux was handed his first Championship start in three months for April’s trip to Norwich, which finished 1-1.
He subsequently ended the season in Mousinho’s line-up for successive games against Stoke and Birmingham as the Blues finished 18th.
‘It has been difficult, especially being so far away from home’
Le Roux added: ‘I would like to have played a bit more, but I’m always ready to deliver whenever called upon.
‘Norwich was my first game for a really long time, I’ve been in the matchday squad for most of the games and haven't got many minutes. So, for the gaffer to give that opportunity, I just had to pay him back.
‘It has been difficult, especially being so far away from home and having family. But with the lads, with everyone in the team from the coaching staff, the backroom staff, it has been amazing.
‘The support has been good, so there has never been a time where I felt I am really struggling.’