Portsmouth forward Christian Saydee has endured an eventful couple of weeks after spending time out of John Mousinho’s plans.
The 21-year-old has started just one game since the turn of the year: the damaging home defeat to Leyton Orient.
Since the defeat to the O’s, Saydee has had to make do with a place on the bench. However, he scored the winning score during Pompey’s 2-1 win over Oxford United at the start of the month.
The impressive cameo was followed up with another against Blackpool, and with Callum Lang “50/50” for Tuesday evening’s match against Burton Albion, there’s a chance he will be handed his second start of 2024.
After the Oxford win, Mousinho said: “It was a collective decision to bring on Christian, and we wanted to protect Langy because he was booked in the first half.
“You could tell with the celebration what it meant, and I was delighted for him because it’s definitely deserved. He’s found himself in and out of the squad, and it’s been tough, but he’s kept his head down and done well in training, working on aspects of his game that needed to get better.”
Saydee sat down with BBC Sport’s Andrew Moon and discussed why he hasn’t been starting more regularly for the Blues.
Christian Saydee makes Portsmouth fitness admission
The 21-year-old has admitted that the lack of first-team minutes has impacted his fitness.
“I guess it’s not a bad thing being a super sub as long as you’re contributing. I would like to [start more games] once my fitness gets better. I can get more playing time,” he said.
Saydee believes that further game time will help his match fitness improve heading into the season’s latter stages.
He added: “I feel like once you’re aren’t playing as much it’s difficult to keep up. Luckily, we have staff that push us in training. Hopefully, I am not too far.”
Honest admission from Portsmouth striker
It’s refreshing that the Pompey striker admits his fitness isn’t at the level required to start for Mousinho’s side.
But, with Lang potentially out of the game against Burton, Saydee could be given a rare start by the Pompey boss.
He provides the Blues with something completely different – a physical striker who can hold the ball up better than any other player at Pompey’s disposal.
The former Bournemouth youngster is an exciting option and will benefit from the odd start between now and the end of the season.