Released by Portsmouth - but Cohen Bramall told he may still have a Fratton Park future

The door may not be closed for Cohen Bramall at Pompey - despite his Fratton Park release.

That’s the message from John Mousinho, who has been impressed by the versatile left-sided player during his brief south-coast stay.

Bramall, who signed a short-team deal from Rotherham in January, was among five players released this week after the Blues opted against extending their contracts.

With Connor Ogilvie and Jacob Farrell contracted as Pompey’s left-backs, Mousinho feels they are well-stocked in that area of the pitch.

Nonetheless, he hasn’t ruled out finding space to bring back Bramall towards the end of the summer, should the opportunity arise.

Ex-Portsmouth man backed for Championship interest

He told The News: ‘We haven’t said to Cohen there’s absolutely nothing here in the summer, but we are really happy with the two contracted left-backs we’ve got.

‘We’ll see how the transfer window plays out because we see Cohen as having a bit of versatility in different positions as well, but certainly he came in and did a brilliant job for us. He’s put himself right in the shop window to pick up, in my opinion, another Championship football club.

‘Under any other circumstances we would have been looking to offer Cohen something, but Jacob has been out pretty much all season and we paid money for a young lad to come over from Australia and have high hopes for him.

‘It's tough to have three left-backs right now. If it’s something which opens up at the back end of the summer then maybe, but it’s difficult right now when we’re looking to free up spaces and free up funds for summer recruitment.

Fratton Park move ‘mutually beneficial’ for ex-Arsenal man

‘Cohen had a massive impact and was a big, big part of what we achieved at the end of the season. Coming in January, he started four games and 12 overall, with some really, really good displays, and some really solid performances as well.

‘He looked every inch a Championship left-back and I thought actually looked like a very, very impactful sub as well.

‘It has been a mutually beneficial move. Cohen hopefully has put himself in the shop window for a really good move this summer - and I wish him all the best.’

Bramall drew criticism from Mousinho over the manner of Coventry’s stoppage-time winner in April, having challenged Ogilvie for the same aerial ball in the build up.

The 29-year-old subsequently featured just once more over the final five matches, with a four-minute substitute cameo in the 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday.

No grudge over Bramall’s costly Coventry mistake

Yet Mousinho denied the subsequent lack of involvement was connected with that cost error against the Sky Blues.

He added: ‘The problem with Coventry is Cohen actually played really, really well for 93 minutes and 50 seconds - then he made one mistake. He nearly scored at one end and, unfortunately, conceded at the other.

‘We never hold anything against players. At the same time, we don’t brush things under the carpet. Players make mistakes, we speak about it, try to confront that and attempt to improve.

‘That’s the way we try to operate as a coaching staff, there is absolutely no point in holding anything because you have another game to win very, very quickly after that.’

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