It is set to be an interesting season for Portsmouth as John Mousinho begins the process of assembling a squad at Fratton Park that could deliver promotion by the end of the League One season.
For a club of Pompey’s size, they ideally need to be in the top two tiers of English football, but since their promotion from League Two in 2017, they have struggled to get themselves back into the Championship.
They have come closer to a second tier return on a few occasions in recent years, but they have drifted away from the promotion mix in the last couple of seasons and will be hoping that the appointment of Mousinho ends up being the turning point for them.
His side ended the campaign in eighth but the Portsmouth boss helped to display signs of progressing the club since his appointment midway through that season. Fratton Park hasn’t seen Championship football since 2012, but Pompey will be hoping 2024 can be their year to return to English football’s second tier.
This will be their seventh consecutive season in the third tier, and the summer window has already seen plenty of names heading through the door, both in terms of incomings and outgoings.
However, there are a number of young players on Portsmouth’s books who have come through their academy set-up, who will be hoping for more chances this season in the League One.
Famously, they have tended to afford their young players opportunities, especially whilst playing at a lower league level, where it is easier to give academy graduates a chance to impress.
Who are Portsmouth’s young academy stars?
The Portsmouth academy is famed for producing talent from Matt Ritchie to Adam Webster. With that in mind, here, we take a look at three more young stars who will be looking to breakthrough this season.
Terry Devlin
Devlin’s breakthrough may already be coming to fruition, with the 19-year-old midfielder already scoring once in three appearances.
He has decent experience in the Northern Irish league with Dungannon Swifts and Glentoran, and the midfielder joined from the latter this summer.
Going into the season, it wasn’t explicitly clear how involved Devlin would be, but he has so far impressed and could be a player on a steep development curve path already this campaign.
Josh Dockerill
The versatile defender or midfielder spent last season on loan with Welsh side Bognor Regis Town but is now back at Fratton Park and looking to establish himself in the senior side.
The 18-year-old has already played 59 minutes in the EFL trophy and his ceiling is extremely high due to his quality in possession.
He has strong competition in the centre-back and holding midfield roles, but could be another player to breakthrough, be that this season or the next.
Harry Jewitt-White
The Welsh youth international made his Portsmouth debut in a 1–0 defeat against West Ham United U21s in November 2020 in the EFL Trophy. At the age of 16 years and 230 days old, he became the third-youngest player in Portsmouth’s post-World War II history.
Since then, Jewitt-White has gone on various loans to gain experience, to the likes of Havant and Waterlooville and Gosport Borough, with him returning to the former this summer, where he has already made five appearances.
Jewitt-White has made seven appearances for Portsmouth so far, but will be looking to establish himself in the first-team further once his loan is completed. He is perhaps a player for next season, but another with good potential nonetheless.