‘The hardest time of my life’: Chelsea starlet reveals startling extent of injury pain and ‘obsession’ to repay Portsmouth’s loyalty

Tino Anjorin admitted he’s emerged from the darkest moments of his life to make his Pompey return.

And the Chelsea loanee told how his determination to repay his debt to the Blues fuelled his latest comeback from serious injury.

Anjorin put five months of pain behind him, to complete his return from a debilitating hamstring issue in the 2-2 promotion showdown draw with Derby County.

The 22-year has been beset by an unrelenting tale of fitness woe, since emerging as a Premier League prospect of real promise with the Londoners four years ago.

Anjorin told how the injury suffered in the FA Cup loss at Chesterfield last November hit him harder than anything else he’s been through, however.

Pompey have stood by the Poole-born talent, however, with hopes high for what he could achieve when a season-long loan was sealed for his services at the end of last August.

And that has fuelled Anjorin’s determination to make an injury comeback this term - and help John Mousinho’s side complete their Championship mission.

Anjorin said: ‘It’s been the hardest time of my life.

‘It’s definitely been the hardest four or five months of my life - mentally and physically.

‘The challenge was a massively tough one, but my desire to get back was so intense it maybe made the rehab even harder.

‘I didn’t want to miss anything when recovering. I had to do everything - every little extra bit I wanted to do and I wanted to do it properly. I want to do it all to the fullest.

‘I became obsessed with the fact I wanted to come back and play - play here at Pompey.

‘They gave me this opportunity and never wanted to cancel my contract.

‘That gave me that great desire to work as hard as I can and help this team get across the line this season.’

The extent of the issues suffered by Anjorin in his career is remarkable, given it’s a vast variety of different problems and not recurrences of the same injury.

The attacking talent was hit by a bout of glandular fever and then suffered an ankle injury, which required surgery and kept him out for a year.

That comes off the back of quad and back issues along with a broken metatarsal already suffered in the Poole talent’s formative career.

Then came the hamstring injury at Pompey, which was so serious it left Anjorin unable to walk.

That incredible tale of woe made his lively 20-minute cameo in the top-of-the-table showdown with Derby all the more satisfying on an emotional landmark occasion for the player.

Anjorin added: ‘I’ve had so many injuries now that I’m fully sick of them, fully sick.

‘I missed out on the whole of last season and now a massive part of this one. I just wanted to play football again - I miss it so much, it’s what I love and it’s what I’ve loved my whole life.

‘The fact that it keeps getting taken away from me is so painful.

‘But even when I was fully down mentally, there was still that glimmer of hope of playing for Pompey again this season.

‘To do it on a occasion like this one, in a stadium with this atmosphere and in a game like this made it all worthwhile.’