The key Portsmouth strength ex-Bristol City, Lincoln City and Luton Town man believes can make all the difference next term

And the 26-year-old believes the competition between the Blues’ engine room will be fierce as six players battle for a starting spot.

John Mousinho has recruited two new faces to ranks in the middle of the park, with Ben Stevenson arriving for free from Forest Green, while Terry Devlin made the switch from Glentoran for an undisclosed fee.

The duo join an already experienced midfield trio in Morrell, Tom Lowery and Marlon Pack as well as youngster Harry Jewitt-White.

It comes after the departures of Ryan Tunnicliffe and Louis Thompson, who were released at the end of the season, while Jay Mingi opted against penning a new deal at Fratton Park.

And Morrell insisted the engine room was an area of the pitch which needed little investment in the summer window.

He told The News: ‘It was an area which didn’t need too much strengthening. People will probably agree that off the back of last season it was one of the stronger areas at the club.

‘Of course having me, Lowers (Lowery) and Marlon (Pack) under contract for this season was probably a big bonus for the club, and it meant that we didn't need to sign six midfielders.

‘But we always need competition. Any good team has probably got two good players in every position and that is something we are definitely working towards.

‘With those two (Stevenson and Devlin) coming in, obviously different profiles of players and are in different stages of their careers, but I like what I’ve seen so far and I think we all do.

‘It’s very difficult to judge a player off the first 10 games of pre-season. I’ve seen some pre-season Maradonas, but in the full season they’ve been nowhere near it.’

Devlin has been one of the Blues most exciting signings of the window, after the Blues fought off competition from sides including Brentford and Sunderland.

And despite being just 19-years-old, Morrell has tipped the youngster to thrive at Fratton Park and will be an exciting addition to Mousinho’s midfield.

He added: ‘With Terry, hopefully it won’t be tough but it’s going to be different for him. It’s his first pre-season in first-team football and I don’t think he got out of his bed much last week in Spain because he was struggling with three sessions a day, which you’re going to do at 19.

‘I’ve got no doubt he’ll make an impact for sure because you can see he’s got something different and is only 19.’