Klarte aldri å følge opp i sin andre sesong

Kusini Yengi var sterkt delaktig i opprykket fra League One for ett år siden. Denne sesongen har vært svak, og Pompey har valgt å frigi kraftspissen fra Australia.

NYHETER: Den 26 år gamle kraftspissen fra Australia hadde en mislykket 2025/26-sesong. Skader, mye borte med landslaget og dårlige prestasjoner når han fikk spilletid. Det ble totalt 14 kamper denne sesongen for Yengi, de fleste som innbytter, og han scoret ikke et eneste mål.

I de siste kampene av sesongen var han heller ikke med i kamptroppen. Selv om flere på sosiale medier har uttrykt overraskelse over at Pompey nå velger å la Yengi forlate klubben gratis, var det således ikke overraskende.

Yengi gjorde en god 2023/24-sesong og var med sine ni seriemål en god bidragsyter til at Pompey vant League One og rykket opp. Om han kunne tatt steget og blitt en Championship-spiller for Pompey får vi nå ikke se, men han vil trolig ikke ha problemer med å finne seg en ny klubb. Kanskje ikke på Championsip-nivå, men han viste i fjor at på League One-nivå er han god. Kanskje kan også andre ligaer være et alternativ.

Pompey hadde opsjon på å forlenge Yengis kontrakt nå når den går ut ved slutten av juni, men klubben har altså valgt å ikke forlenge. I stedet er han nå blant de mange spillerne som står uten kontrakt og må på klubbjakt.

SE OGSÅ: Kusini Yengis spillerprofil

 

Tre forskjellige skader i løpet av sesongen

Dette viser hvor fort ting snur i fotballen. For ett år siden var han en helt i Portsmouth og flere trodde at Pompey i Yengi ikke bare hadde en spiss som kunne score mål i Championship, men kanskje også være en kommende Premier League-spiss.

Hovedårsaken til at ting har forandret seg slik er at Kusini Yengi har hatt tre forskjellige skader i løpet av sesongen. To av disse pådro han seg mens han var på landslagsoppdrag med Australia.

Jordan Cross delte følgende tanker om hva som har gått galt da han snakket om Yengi i podkasten «Pompey Talk»:

«Remember, Kusini Yengi was starting at Leeds (on the opening day of the season), he was going to go into that game (as the main striker), he was leading the line. Then he just didn’t get going. He got the groin injury. He then had a season impacted by a knee injury he picked up on international duty, which I don’t think helped him with the supporters.

‘I think the fact that he’s gone away… the momentum was looking there at certain times, it was arriving, and then he’d go away on international duty. There were questions asked about players going halfway across the world and coming back again and whether that had an impact on things?

‘It wasn’t great optics to supporters and I get that, but what was he supposed to do? I’d want to represent my country if I was an international, I’m sure most of us would. So I think that’s a little bit harsh, but he just didn’t get going for that (reason).

‘I also think it’s fair criticism when fans talked about his work rate at times. Whether his style of play married with the switch that John Mousinho put in, that played such a big role in keeping Pompey in the division – the high press and the high distances covered – I don’t think we saw that too much from Kusini.

‘That was a frustration for me and Plymouth away was one that really got to me, where he’s got everything in his locker, has every club in the golf bag to be a great number nine in the Championship. You see balls coming up around his shoulders and he’s not controlling it, he’s not getting his body behind it, it whizzes past him and the defenders are eating them up. He’s got to be doing more and it was infuriating to see that at times.

‘That was one for me and I know that was echoed within the Pompey camp as well. I know John Mousinho was frustrated with him at Preston, that was a cause of consternation as well.

‘Then, after that, he didn’t make the final squads, which I think you can draw your own conclusions about that.»