Pompey’s plan for Chelsea star dubbed ‘best in the country’ and role of Burnley hero

Pompey manager John Mousinho is hoping to reignite the career of Tino Anjorin and make him ready for first-team football at Chelsea at the end of his loan spell.

The Blues have signed Anjorin until the end of the 2023/24 campaign, and Anjorin has arrived has arrived at the right time, given the injuries to front-line players Anthony Scully and Kusini Yengi.

Upon his arrival at Fratton Park, former Chelsea left-back and now assistant manager Jon Harley was credited for the part he played in bringing Anjorin to the South Coast, given the formers previous role at Stamford Bridge.

Harley witnessed first-hand how talented the player was coming through the system in West London, and has Mousinho has stated at one point during his career he was the most talented young player.

‘I think Jon was about 90% of that deal getting done,” Mousinho said to the What the EFL?! podcast.

‘There’s a lot that obviously Tino knows about Jon but also Chelsea know about Jon which meant that they were really comfortable with letting us have him and take him on for this period.

‘I think Tino had a huge amount of promise early in his career. He made his debut at Chelsea and was an exciting young player. He was probably the best young player in the country at all age-groups coming through.

‘He hasn’t really kicked on over the last couple of years. He’s had a path that hasn’t been able to sustain anything. A player with the amount of talent Tino has got we know he can really affect this level.’

Anjorin did not make the match-day squad against Peterborough United, but could find himself in the 18-man match-day squad for the trip to Derby County on Saturday (September 16). His versatility has given the manager a headache, but a welcomed one as he welcomes versatility to his side.

The Poole-born forward has had an interesting football career so far with a loan at Lokomotiv Moscow, and Huddersfield Town last year. His loan in Russia was cut short through injury, and he later went out to Huddersfield for a second-and-a-half but he found his opportunities limited.

Chelsea's academy has brought through some of the best young players in the country but breaking into the first-team is an ardous task. The belief from Anjorin’s loan though is that once his time at Pompey is other, then he should be ready for first-team football with Mauricio Pocchetino’s men.

Mousinho added: ‘We’re very lucky to have him here, we have to make sure he stays fit, he’s healthy and so we can see some of that on the pitch. A lot of that is down to Jon’s influence and how comfortable he feels coming here.

‘We are going to take care of him, we’re not going to flog him and hopefully at the back end of the year we send a player back that is ready to play in Chelsea’s first-team because that is the level of ability that the young lad has got.

‘It’s just going to be a little bit of a slow process at first and to make sure at the end of the season he’s raring to go Saturday-Tuesday.

“If not then Saturday-Saturday, but the demands of this league are very different from other leagues.’