'We’ve done all we can' - Portsmouth told luckless winger is heading back to Fratton Park from League Two loan

The luckless winger is set to return to the south coast from loan club Colchester United after aggravating an ankle injury he initially picked up in training with the Blues last March.

According to U’s boss Danny Cowley, the 25-year-old could potentially need an operation to correct a previous procedure that continues to irritate the forward.

He’s leaving that to the Blues to decide, though, with Colchester having ‘done all they can’ to get Scully fit and available for selection.

The player has featured nine times for the League Two outfit in all competitions since completing a season-long loan move on deadline day - but only one of them has come as a league start.

Confirming the development to Gazette News, Cowley said: ‘We signed Anthony right at the end of deadline day. Unfortunately, the Bradley (Ihionvien) deal happened so late that most of our options had gone by that point.

‘When you do it that late, as we did with Anthony, you can’t do it with a medical and all these types of things, you don’t have the time.

“He’s had an ankle injury which has been quite long-standing really. There’s some metal work in that ankle injury from a previous operation which has been really irritating him.

‘It’s really stiffened up his ankle and he’s been putting some force through the knee and the hip, which is why we’ve been injecting him.

“We’ve done all we can and the kid has done all he can but, ultimately, it looks like he’s going to need that (metal work) taken out. But it’s up to Portsmouth really, because they’re obviously Anthony’s parent club and because it’s an existing injury, it’s whether they decide to do that.

‘It looks like he’ll go back to Portsmouth and do his rehab there.’

Scully featured nine times for Pompey last season, following his move from Wigan for an undisclosed fee. His one and only term at Fratton Park was hampered by injury, though, with the former West Ham trainee forced to sit out four months of the Blues’ League One title-winning season with a knee injury.

A series of knocks and niggles then saw  him sit out the second half of the campaign, following his comeback over the 2023 festive season.

Scully was told he had no Pompey future at the end of July. He was already in the final 12 months of his Fratton Park contract, when he was told he could seek a new club.