Why Portsmouth fans will be made to wait for Rocco Shein debut following midfielder's multi-million-pound arrival

John Mousinho has explained why Pompey fans weren’t given their first glimpse of new signing Rocco Shein at Woking on Tuesday night.

The Estonia international midfielder was announced as the Blues’ third signing of the summer on Monday evening, ending weeks of speculation about his future.

The 23-year-old put pen to paper on a three-year deal after an undisclosed fee was agreed with Norwegian side Fredrikstadt for his signatures.

For some it would have been time enough for Shein to get straight down to work for his new side and integrate himself with his new Fratton Park team-mates ahead of the forthcoming new season.

Mousinho, however, insisted a more cautious approach was needed due to the player’s lack of training and match action while his move to PO4 was completed.

And that means Pompey supporters will now have to wait until Saturday’s trip to Bristol Rovers to see their newest addition enjoy his maiden run-out for the club, not Wednesday’s game at Aldershot (5pm).

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Mousinho: ‘He needs a full week of training’

Speaking to The News after Pompey’s 2-1 win against Jermain Defoe’s Woking, Mousinho said: ‘Rocco was already in the country just awaiting the paperwork, had to go through the visa process as well, and was just waiting for everything to actually be signed off.

‘So once that was done, he was then cleared to train Monday morning,

‘He did his first training session Monday, and with everything that goes on with these transfers, with players staying in hotels, going to and from medicals, going to and from visa appointments, there was no way we were going to risk him (against Woking). We won't see him Wednesday either, but hopefully we'll see him at the weekend.

‘He needs a full week of training first before we're going to put him into any action.

‘Rocco’s slightly different because he was mid-season with Fredrikstad. But as soon as you take that training out of his legs... he's had probably two weeks now worth of transfer speculation, I think Fredrikstad pulled him out of their squad a couple of weeks ago as well.

‘So in anticipation of the move happening, he was not doing anything over there, then hasn't done anything over here for a bit.

‘So even though he is mid-season and he's in a good spot, we need to make sure that he gets to a good space so we don't risk anything with him.’

In Shein’s absence, Blues visitors to Woking saw fellow new signings Odin Bailey and Eoin Kenny make their non-competitive bows.

Although, they had to wait until the second half to see the duo in action, with Mousinho fielding two entirely different teams in each half.

For your next Pompey read: Portsmouth transfer news: Marko Milovanovic is a no-show for Almeria pre-season return