The glowing reference for Barnet winger Ephron Mason-Clark which justifies Portsmouth's interest in non-league forward

And his eulogizing words offer a real insight into why the Blues are keen to bring the 22-year-old to Fratton Park before the close of the transfer window.

The News revealed Danny Cowley’s interest in the attacker on Saturday, with Mason-Clark a player who ticks a lot of boxes as far as the Pompey manager is concerned.

With youth, pace, power, athleticism and an ability to go one-on-one with a defender, he’s exactly what the Blues need as they look to continue a summer recruitment drive that has already seen 11 new faces arrive through the doors at Fratton Park – including Owen Dale.

It was those capabilities which were sadly missing as Pompey failed to break down Lincoln in their opening Fratton Park fixture of the season on Saturday.

But as Cowley looked for ways within his existing ranks to do just that against the Imps, in north London Mason-Clark was demonstrating what was required in his latest outings for Barnet.

And with a goal added to the mix as well, it was enough to earn special praise from manager Brennan.

Indeed, rather than downplay the player’s qualities in order to fend off any interest, he happily waxed lyrical about Mason-Clark – perhaps in an attempt to add a few zeros to any fee that could be coming the National League side’s way!

Speaking about the winger to Barnet’s media team after their 2-0 win against The Shaymen, Brennan said: ‘I think I’ve said everything I can say about the kid. He’s a top player, to be fair,

‘Now he’s got to get his numbers right. He started today and scored a couple of those in pre-season as well, so we’ve spoken about that.

‘But he’s a top player. He’s so brave. He always wants the ball, he takes people on one-on-one situations, he works his socks off without the ball, so, yeah, he’s a proper team player.’

Playing on the left wing against Halifax, Mason-Clarke also impressed for the Bees in their pre-season friendly against the Blues at The Hive last month.

Featuring in the first half, he gave the Pompey defence plenty to think about and operated in various forward roles, which is another attractive quality he can bring to the table.

The Blues’ interest, though, is a long-standing one, with the forward continuing his development at an impressive rate in recent seasons.

Making his Barnet debut as a 17-year-old in 2016, he has gone on to make 176 appearances for the National League side, scoring 17 goals.

Last term was his most prolific in front of goal, with Mason-Clark scoring six goals in 39 league appearances.