Richard Hughes’ stock has risen since taking the sporting director role at Portsmouth.
The former Forest Green Rovers chief has helped turn the Blues into League One title challengers and firmly placed his reputation on the line when he appointed John Mousinho.
His work in the transfer markets must be applauded. Paddy Lane, Callum Lang, Tom McIntyre, Will Norris, Regan Poole, Jack Sparks, Conor Shaughnessy, Owen Moxon, Christian Saydee, Terry Devlin and Kusini Yengi are now all permanent fixtures at Fratton Park.
Abu Kamara, Myles Peart-Harris, and Alex Robertson’s impressive loans have added the quality required to put the club on the brink of promotion.
However, one player has firmly failed to hit the heights expected of him after making a temporary switch to Fratton Park.
Portsmouth gamble on Chelsea youngster backfires
Tini Anjorin was signed late in the 2023 summer window.
Considering the youngster’s previous injury woes, Hughes and Mousinho knew they were taking a gamble. And now, four months have passed without the Chelsea loanee kicking a ball.
The hamstring injury sustained during the 1-0 FA Cup loss to Chesterfield was initially reported as an eight-week layoff, but that was not the case.
Anjorin has spent the past three months receiving treatment at Chelsea’s training base. There was hope that he would be fit to play in the remaining seven fixtures, with the end of March tipped as a potential return date.
However, Mousinho’s latest update suggests the midfielder won’t return.
“Tino’s been looking to train with Chelsea, and when those boxes are ticked, he’ll be back with us. He does need to tick all those boxes, though, not just in training but also in a bit of strength testing,” he told The Portsmouth News.
“So he needs to do that before he’s back with us, but he was at the Burton game, and he’s keen to get back. When he does, it will be full training, but it will be staged in terms of where we get him to in terms of games. I think anything we get with Tino (this season) will be a bonus.”
Reading between the lines, he won’t feature between now and the end of the season. With just three starts and seven appearances, it’s been a loan to forget.