The truth revealed over Portsmouth midfielder contract clause rumours with former Millwall and Ipswich man’s deal at close

And the Blues boss has praised the midfielder’s professionalism, after he was removed from his squad against Accrington last weekend.

Tunnicliffe found himself in the stands at Fratton Park last weekend, as Harry Jewitt-White was handed a full league debut.

With the 30-year-old one of the 13 players out of contract this summer, Mousinho explained he’s seen enough of Tunnicliffe now to decide what lies ahead for him. That was the key factor in the former Millwall and Ipswich man not playing, rather than another appearance triggering a contract extension.

Mousinho said: ‘I can categorically deny that (an appearance triggers a new deal), it’s not the reason he was left out.

‘First of all I wouldn’t want to discuss a personal contract because it’s confidential, but that’s not the reason Ryan’s been left out.

‘I spoke to him last week about it and we’ve seen all we need to see from Ryan, in order to make decisions on his future from the 20 games he’s played since I arrived. So it’s got nothing to do with contracts.’

As well as contract speculation, there was also talk Tunnicliffe didn’t take being left out of Mousinho’s squad well last weekend. The Pompey boss stated that was wide of the mark and the Manchester United trainee has been present and training well this week.

He added: ‘Ryan’s here. I spoke to him when I said I was going to leave him out of the squad. He got it, he understood it and he was great, acting like a proper professional.

‘It was probably one of the more difficult conversations for me in my time here, because he’s been so good. It was literally a case of saying, though we won’t be able to do it across the board because we haven’t got the bodies, most of the players playing are either definitely here next year or we need to have a look at.

‘He got it and he was fine with it, so he said he’s going to just keep himself going for the last couple of weeks, that’s the best thing to do.

‘You need to be ready for whatever challenge comes next. So coming here, training hard and keeping your head up is 100 per cent the most important thing for the players.’