‘That one’s slightly different’: Portsmouth boss on Regan Poole’s Fratton future with former Lincoln City man’s contract situation under microscope

The Blues boss feels there is a desire from both the player and his football club to see his Fratton Park stay extended.

Mousinho admitted the terms of Poole’s contract are slightly different to most of the deals done for Pompey players, with no 12-month option reported when he arrived from Lincoln in the summer of 2023.

No options means, in theory, the 26-year-old could leave as a free agent when his agreement comes to a close at the end of the campaign.

Poole was outstanding last term before a serious knee injury curtailed his season and led to 10 months on the sidelines. There’s been another two months out this term after a related hamstring problem, but the Wales international is now set to be a key figure in Pompey’s Championship run-in.

And, beyond that, Mousinho feels there’s a desire on all sides for Poole to remain at PO4.

He said: ‘That’s one (Poole’s contract) where it’s slightly different with the construction of that contract.

‘I think away from me being at the football club, I’d be very surprised if both parties weren’t keen to get something done.

‘He was fantastic for the first 15 games of last season, he played pretty much every minute of every game and we conceded 10 goals in that time. He came back into the side this season in brilliant form and then dropped off slightly, by his own admission.

‘The most pleasing thing has been the way he’s come back now and fitted seamlessly into the side. He came on at 0-0 Saturday just before half-time and it wasn’t an easy game to fit into with Frey, Chair and the amount of attacking firepower QPR had.

‘I thought he came on and did really well - he now needs to keep that level up between now and the end of the season.’

Poole’s latest return coincides with major worries about Pompey’s defensive options, with a swathe of concerns going into Saturday’s trip to Luton.

The former Lincoln man believes he’s well placed to get back to the imperious levels of form he hit last season, with Mousinho seeing a player in a different place to when he came back from his ACL injury in September.

Different place physically

He added: ‘We’ll see, he looked it (close to his old levels) at the weekend. He’s got to keep going and that’s the trick for Regan because he came back well at Burnley and dropped off after that.

‘I think he’s in a different place physically now off from coming back after 10 months out and being thrown into game after game after game. It was difficult for him. He had the run of games and has now had a bit of time out with his hamstring, so he’s in a very different spot.

‘It’s not a long-term injury to come back from and he’s played plenty of football this season.

‘He’s actually had the boost of that 50 minutes of playing time Saturday. If you had spoken about that at ‘Oxford we would’ve been very hesitant about playing him for more than 15 or 20 minutes.

If helped we had another week between that, another week to train and another week to get him ready for 50 minutes under his belt - so now we can go from there.’

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