15 Pompey-spillere har kontrakt som går ut ved sesongslutt, deriblant flere sentrale førstelagsspillere. Pompey vil kun diskutere ny kontrakt med én av dem foreløpig.
NYHETER: Marlon Pack, Joe Morrell, Sean Raggett, Joe Rafferty, Connor Ogilvie, Zak Swanson, Lee Evans, Liam Vincent, Haji Mnoga, Harry Jewitt-White, Josh Martin, Matt Macey, Ryan Schofield, Josh Dockerill og Toby Steward.
Det er listen over Pompey-spillere som har kontrakt som går ut ved sesongslutt. Noen av disse spillerne er temmelig sikkert ønsket med videre, uansett om det blir i Championship eller League One neste sesong. Pompey ønsker derimot ikke å begynne samtaler om forlengelse av kontrakten med noen av disse ennå. Med unntak av den unge keeperen Toby Steward.
Årsaken til at klubben har startet samtaler med han, er at den 19 år gamle keeperen ikke er involvert på Pompeys førstelag nå. Han har spilt rundt 40 førstelagskamper for Gosport i Southern League Premier South denne sesongen, og Pompey er ivrige på å forlenge med det unge keepertalentet.
SE OGSÅ: Spillerstallen
Cullen om Steward
Daglig leder Andy Cullen forklarer videre: «Obviously Toby isn’t a regular member of the first-team squad at the moment. He’s a talented young player and is very much part of what we are trying to do with our overall strategy.
Whether players are developed through the Academy or those we have identified coming through, we’ve been able to do that with a number of them this season. We started that work in January 2023, with Paddy Lane and Ryley Towler coming into the team, and continued that over the summer with other young talent coming through, such as Christian Saydee and Terry Devlin. Everybody forgets that a lot of these players are still under-23s, so are really, really strong coming into the club.
We’re really, really pleased with the progress Toby’s made. For him, this season was to get regular match action and he’s been able to achieve that at Gosport, who are having a really good season themselves. Gosport will be looking at their own opportunities and what they can achieve in these last few weeks of the season. For Toby to be part of that, feeling the pressure, will be good for his long-term development. We are really, really pleased with the progress he has made this year.»
Derfor er ikke Pompey i samtaler med de 14 andre
Til og med kaptein Marlon Pack er på utgående kontrakt. Han er fra Portsmouth, elsker klubben og har vært en av Pompeys aller beste spillere denne sesongen.
Men selv om Mousinho trolig ønsker Pack med videre, har Pompey bestemt seg for å ikke begynne samtaler med noen. All fokus skal være på de resterende kampene og å sikre opprykk. Om en begynner kontraktssamtaler med noen, vil det spre uro.
Cullen fortalte The News like før påsken:
«At the moment, there aren’t going to be discussions because we’re fully focused on the job in hand. It would be totally inappropriate to start to do anything at this point until we’ve got to the end of the season. There are six weeks left and all the focus is on making sure we do our best to deliver the ultimate goal.
You don’t want distractions and the one thing about this season – which has been really, really special – is the togetherness of this squad throughout. So you must make sure you do everything together. If you start to do one thing or prioritise one player’s contract over another player’s contract that’s not great.
I think everybody understands it, so there’s no pressure. This would probably also be true at other clubs at the moment, particularly if you want to have a sensible approach. No-one wants to disrupt what is a fantastic spirit in the squad at the moment. Let’s just get through until the end of the season, with everybody remaining fully focussed on what we all want to achieve, then look at it.’
Let’s get to the end of the season when we are in a position where we know what we’re doing for next year.We have a really good structure as a consequence of work carried out in the summer and January, which gives us strong foundations – and we can work with those players who are out of contract or have options.»
Toby Steward er ønsket med videre av Pompey.