The Portsmouth player already awarded a new contract - and John Mousinho's plans for him

Although centre-half Josh Dockerill has been told he may have to reinvent himself as a midfielder to fulfil his potential.

The 18-year-old from Camberley has been on the Blues’ books since under-nines, progressing to make a first-team bow as a Papa Johns Trophy substitute in November against AFC Wimbledon.

The Academy graduate’s impressive development has warranted a one-year deal, with the likes of Adam Payce, Elliott Simpson, Jamie Howell and Gabriel Kamavuako missing out.

And while the defender has caught the eye of Mousinho, Dockerill has been earmarked for a new playing position.

Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘Josh responded positively to his loan at Bognor and has also now had quite a few training sessions here with the first-team.

‘For him, it’s all about what happens at the start of pre-season and we’ll see how he comes on from that point onwards.

‘We’re probably going to look at Josh as a number six. I know he’s played centre-half for the majority of the last couple of years and I wouldn’t rule it out again in the future.

‘But, in terms of aggression and physicality, to make it in this league as a centre-half you need to hopefully have both. If not, one or the other.

‘Josh doesn't fall down hugely on aggression, but he’s not the biggest lad and I think he is mobile enough to play in the middle of the park, he’s certainly good enough on the ball.

‘Those are the attributes we see in him and how we’d like to develop him in the future. From pre-season, we can really work on that as a position for him.

‘He has been playing as a six for Bognor, which is a real bonus for us. We don’t want to pigeonhole anyone, but that’s certainly a possibility for us.

‘We think Josh has a lot of talent and attributes we’d like to try to improve.’

After joining Bognor in March, Dockerill made six appearances for the non-leaguers, all as starts.

And Mousinho believes that experience has been crucial in the 18-year-old’s ongoing development.

He added: ‘We look at Josh as someone who has performed really well in the youth team – and performed really well out on loan mixing it with men’s football.

‘Kids get a really good grounding here with the Academy and a huge amount of exposure to a lot of games and technical aspects, but sometimes you never know what they’re going to be like until you throw them out into a different league.’