'Pace, power, athleticism': Why Rich Hughes is convinced exciting Portsmouth newcomer will be a Fratton Park hit

Rich Hughes is convinced highly-regarded Franco Umeh can negotiate the ‘huge leap’ and flourish at Fratton Park.

The Blues plucked the winger from Crystal Palace’s under-21s in a deadline-day deal reportedly worth £500,000, tying him to a four-year deal.

Although yet to appear in the Football League, the youngster has featured four times for the Eagles’ under-21s in the EFL Trophy, most recently against Gillingham in September 2024, when he scored in a 3-1 victory.

Certainly Pompey have high hopes for the 20-year-old, who has yet to be involved having arrived at Fratton Park with a hamstring injury collected during his time at Selhurst Park.

And their sporting director has confidence the Blues can provide the pathway for the attacker to shine in their first-team.

‘Pace, power, athleticism’

Hughes told The News: ‘Me and John watched quite a lot of Franco. He’s an unbelievable athlete, has a really nice personality and possesses a good ability for affecting games.

‘That became really apparent when we watched him playing for Palace under-21s, while he found himself on the first-team bench quite a few times as well.

‘He was well regarded at Palace, a real rawness of physical ability and an ability to affect games in the final third through pace, power, athleticism and bits of quality.

‘Franco is going to need time, he’s going to need work, but he’s one we are really excited about having in the building permanently and working with, letting him develop and letting him flourish into the player we firmly all believe he will be.

‘He needs to get up to speed, he’s not had the best pre-season and he has been working to get back from his injury. When that happens, he will be around the group, he will be part of it, like all players it will be up to him to perform and get in the team or on the bench.

‘Coming from under-21 football into the Championship is a huge leap and completely different in terms of physicality and intensity, but we’ve had some good experience of players doing that and have learnt as a football club how to better prepare players for that.

‘So we’re looking forward to putting that into place for Franco and giving him that platform to show everyone what a good footballer he is.’

Of Mousinho’s wing options, Josh Murphy and Harvey Blair remain from last season, with Matt Ritchie, Anthony Scully and Liverpool loanee Kaide Gordon departing.

‘An arsenal of different weapons’

It’s a position which has been strengthened this summer, with Yang Minhyeok (Spurs), Florian Bianchini (Swansea) and, of course, Umeh arriving at Fratton Park.

As luck would have it, injury ruled out Murphy, Blair, Yang and Umeh for Saturday's dismal defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.

Hughes added: ‘We’ve got a few wingers, some are contracted, some are recovering from injury, it’s going to be a real shoot-out between those attacking players.

‘It was a frustration of ours last year that we didn’t really feel we were able to change the game effectively from the bench at the top end of the pitch.

‘So we’re giving John that arsenal of different weapons that he can choose from - and I think Franco will affect things when he is fit and ready to do so.’

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