Portsmouth weighing up loan exit for fledgling England youth international

It is understood the Blues will review whether to get the 18-year-old regular minutes elsewhere to help his encouraging development.

The impending arrival of Callum Johnson from Accrington for a fee of around £200,000 will demote Mnoga to third-choice right-back at Fratton Park.

The England youth international has played deputy to James Bolton during the pre-season campaign and was on the bench for Pompey's Carabao Cup penalty shootout victory at Stevenage.

But the Blues are wary that they don't want Mnoga's progress to stagnate and will weigh up getting him out playing senior football.

Mnoga hasn't had a lot of exposure to the men's game so far during his fledgling career.

He's made four Blues first-team appearances, all coming in the EFL Trophy.

Mnoga was at Bognor at the beginning of last season before suffering a freak foot injury on the way to Victorious Festival, which sidelined him for eight weeks.

After the turn of the year, the former Trafalgar School pupil was due to join a National League club on loan but had to stay at Fratton Park as cover after Bolton suffered a thigh setback.

Bolton and Johnson look set to fight it out for a starting spot for Pompey's League One curtain-raiser against Shrewsbury on Saturday.

Mnoga’s highly regarded at Fratton Park after signing his first professional contract in December.

And a temporary switch would help his bid to establish himself at the Blues in the future.

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this story. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on our advertisers and thus our revenues.

The News is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism. You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news and information online.

Every subscription helps us continue providing trusted, local journalism and campaign on your behalf for our city.