Portsmouth boss’ crucial Callum Lang update ahead of new Championship campaign
Callum Lang got minutes under his belt at Brighton yesterday after the £2m Preston North End talk. Now John Mousinho has updated about the former Wigan man being ready to face Oxford United in the Championship next week.
Callum Lang will be ready to start the new Championship season next week.
Pompey boss John Mousinho is confident the key attacker will be fine to play, as his side start the 2025-26 campaign at Oxford United.
Pompey boss delivers Championship fitness latest on Lang
Mousinho’s belief over Lang being ready to feature at the Kassam Stadium arrives after the Scouser banked his latest pre-season minutes at Brighton yesterday.
The 26-year-old played just over an hour of the 4-0 success against the Seagulls’ under-21 side, at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre
That saw Lang build on his first minutes at Reading on Saturday, with a first-half outing banked in another 4-0 victory against the Royals.
It means the Wigan signing’s progress is now accelerating after being restricted by a hamstring injury in pre-season to date.
Lang’s rehabilitation means he is still behind the rest of his team-mate in terms of his conditioning ahead of the second-tier curtain-raiser.
That’s not something Mousinho is overly concerned about, however, and feels the Pompey dynamo will be ready for the big occasion against the U’s.
He said: ‘Callum’s fine. We wanted to give him 45 minutes at the weekend and there was no way with a hamstring injury we were going to risk him playing on the surface (at Hawks).
‘He’s definitely playing catch-up. He’s 15 minutes behind everybody else in terms of playing time.
‘That’s because everybody pretty much got 60 across the board at the weekend and Callum we only ever wanted to do 45.
‘So he’s probably two or three days behind everyone else, but nothing to worry about.
‘He’ll be fine, unless we sell him of course! I’m confident Callum will be fine and he will be okay for the first game of the season.’
Return to Oxford United on after mixed Lang fortunes at Kassam
Lang’s involvement at Oxford means he will return to a venue he’s had very mixed fortunes in his Pompey career to date.
There was a debut goal off the bench following his January arrival last year in a 2-2 draw, before scoring in the corresponding fixture at Fratton Park in March.
Lang then suffered what looked like a season-ending hamstring injury in February, before returning to play a part in the final three games of the season.
There’s been plenty of speculation surrounding the former Liverpool academy talent, with a swathe of talk over interest from Championship rivals Preston North End earlier this month.
He said: ‘It’s one of those (rumours) which always brings a smile to my face, but you could see today that’s a player not playing for the sake of it.
‘You can tell his commitment to Pompey and wants to be here - and I thought he was excellent in a different position. It was really pleasing to see Callum back out on the pitch and hopefully that puts an end to all the speculation.
‘There are always going to be links when a player scores 10 goals and that is a compliment to Callum. As far as I am concerned as a head coach, we know Callum is going to be here this season, we know he is not for sale, which is a really positive part of this football club. There is absolutely no reason to sell any players if we'd receive bids.
‘That's not to say it’s never going to happen in the future with any player - but certainly we are not in a position where we need to think about selling a player like Callum.’