The lowdown on the former Manchester United, Rangers and QPR man aiming to earn Portsmouth deal

What’s his background?

Born in Germany, Goss moved to England at the age of eight and came through the ranks at Exeter City, where he is regarded as one of their finest academy graduates. His potential prompted Manchester to pay £100,000 for his services in 2012 where he progressed through the academy age groups to under-23 level.

Goss made a first-team pre-season appearance against Paris St Germain in 2015 and was involved in a squad for a Premier League clash against Watford, but never featured in a competitive game at senior level while at Old Trafford.

Where did his career go from there?

Well, to QPR in the first instance. With the Championship side signing Goss on a three-and-a-half year deal for £500,000 in 2017.

His first-team involvement at Loftus Road was limited to six league appearances and one League Cup outing, however, and was punctuated by loan spells in Scotland with Rangers and St Johnstone before moving to Shrewsbury in 2019.

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How did things go at New Meadow?

Not too bad in the first season. After being signed by Sam Ricketts, Goss went on to make 31 appearances before the Covid pandemic struck.

Last season proved a nightmare for him, however, as Ricketts completely froze him out of the first-team picture and Goss was made to train with the Salop youth team.

There was something of a revival for him when Steve Cotterill arrived in November and he was brought back into the senior set-up - making 20 league appearances.

That wasn’t enough to earn himself a new deal, however, with Cotterill putting his own plans in place - leaving Goss looking for a new home.

What type of player is he?

Goss is a left-footed midfielder and has done a bit of everything in his career. He’s comfortable as a holding midfielder but was utilised in an attacking position under Cotterill last term, where he grabbed three goals.

Playing on the left flank and as a defender are other positions he’s occupied thorough his career to date.

Perhaps a revealing insight is Goss is said to have modelled his game on Michael Carrick when coming through the United ranks.

How did he do at Bristol City?

Goss got an hour under his belt at the Robins High Performance Centre operating in a deep-lying midfield role. News Pompey writer Will Rooney felt Goss ‘found it difficult to get into the game’ and gave him a rating of six out of 10.

What do the stats say?

In his career to date, Goss has made 67 league appearances with 18 out of those outings coming off the bench. He’s made 16 appearances in other competitions and has bagged 16 senior goals.

According to Wyscout, Goss carries out 70.39 actions per game with a 65.5 per cent success rate. He’s averaged 43.45 passes per game through his career with a 79.8 per cent accuracy.

Goss averages 16.16 duels per 90 minutes, winning 52.9 per cent with a mean 8.03 recoveries per game.

And people in the game?

Former Manchester United under-21 coach Warren Joyce said of Goss: ‘He's a dependable lad and has got it all sorted when the ball comes to him with his pass selection. His technique is good and he's works really hard.’

Former QPR boss Ian Holloway said: ‘He’s a ball playing midfielder – and what I want long-term is players in midfield with a range of passing, who can offer us something a bit different. That’s Gossy – that’s what he’s all about. He has a different range of passing to the other midfielders we’ve got in the squad.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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