What’s next for former Arsenal starlet linked with Manchester City as Portsmouth emergence continues

And the teenage starlet has been praised by John Mousinho for seamlessly adjusting to first-team football, after his bow at Forest Green.

Mottoh’s second-half appearance at New Lawn made him the ninth youngest player in the club’s post-war history, at the age of 16 years and 346 days.

It was reward for impressing at academy level, after previously stepping up for Hampshire Senior Cup and pre-season duty.

Now there could be more of the same on the horizon for the Arsenal arrival, who has rather tenuously been linked with Premier League giants Manchester City.

Mousinho said: ‘It was nice to have Koby in the squad after doing so well against Forest Green for the academy.

‘He was involved in four of the goals and speaking to the academy lead, Sam Hudson, he was outstanding - unplayable.

‘That was nice for us to be able to lean upon, because if he hadn’t played well at the weekend he wouldn’t have been involved with the first team.

‘We weren’t doing it for the sake of it, we were doing it because Koby deserved it.

‘He had a couple of pre-season games where he hadn’t sparkled as much as we would’ve liked, but he’s got the bit between his teeth, knuckled down and played really well.

‘Hopefully it’s a hallmark of how we want to go about our business.

‘Any player with any sort of contract at this club, if they show the right attitude, desire and ultimately quality to get into the side - they will get in the side.

‘That’s the reason Koby got there and long may that continue. We’re going to be monitoring how he’s doing with the academy, so we’ll see how he does.

‘There’s six more games in August, so there could be plenty of opportunities for everyone.’

Mousinho was not only pleased with Mottoh coming into the first-team fray at Forest Green - but also looking more than comfortable at that level.

The second-year scholar caught the eye against the League One two with a number of positive contributions.

Mousinho added: ‘The most pleasing thing was he didn’t look out of place, if he’d been 24 or 25 you would’ve thought he’d done pretty well. The fact he’s 16 is really promising for us.

It’s just about managing that properly, so Koby is back down with the academy because we’ve got such fierce competition for places in the first team.

‘So that’s for him to manage and deal with, but at 16 he’s got a hell of a lot of promise.

‘We want him to be direct, get down the side of full-backs, deliver it and be a goal threat.

‘Koby hasn’t spent a lot of time with the first team, so when we talked about he we press and build up he’s not particularly familiar with it.

‘So to play like he did the other night without that exposure was a double boost for us.’