John Mousinho should reunite with released Oxford United star at Portsmouth: Opinion | OneFootball

While Portsmouth's latest play-off crusade proved futile, up-and-coming manager John Mousinho certainly forged a positive impression after recently hanging his boots up.

Their chances could well be strengthened with the addition of a tried-and-tested, out-of-contract wide-man who he knows all too well.

After trading a player-coach role at the Kassam Stadium for a permanent managerial post down on the south coast back in January, Mousinho claimed four victories from his opening eight matches, and only tasted defeat four times, although that was not enough to salvage Pompey's ambitions after a turbulent first half of the season as they ultimately finished outside of the top six by a seven-point deficit.

Still, many would argue that he has given the Fratton Park faithful plenty to be positive about going into next term, and such optimism would only be enhanced if the services of a former teammate were secured.

Why would this signing make perfect sense?

During his playing days, Mousinho spent two separate seasons sharing the field with Gavin Whyte, firstly in the Northern Irishman's initial breakout season with the U's before reuniting when he returned on a fruitful loan spell from Cardiff City in the 2021/22 campaign.

Whyte has since been released from Cardiff, and, after arriving with much excitement after a nine-goal outlay from his debut season in Oxfordshire, it would be fair to say that it simply did not work out in the Welsh capital.

Though Whyte swiftly established himself as a regular under the tuition of Neil Warnock owing to his speed, energy and endeavour out of possession, strong early season performances in his debut campaign were as good as it got when the veteran boss departed in October 2019.

Unsurprisingly so given the marriage of pedigree and technical efficiency among the trio, replacement Neil Harris preferred to utilise Junior Hoilett, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and current Oxford winger Josh Murphy as Cardiff reached the playoffs that campaign.

And, after finding himself unable to displace the dynamic duo of Sheyi Ojo and play-making extraordinaire Harry Wilson the following year, Whyte was dispatched on a half-season loan to Hull City, where he helped the Tigers return to the Championship at the first time of asking with four strikes from just ten starts.

Following on from that, a second spell to Oxford was sanctioned, and he enjoyed the most proficient season of his career to date by contributing with ten assists as Karl Robinson's all-action outfit tallied as the joint-top scorers in the division.

Indeed, a sizable cohort of Cardiff supporters had optimistically hoped that this would be the making of Whyte, who, despite showing evident deficiencies in the Championship, had become endeared to fans with his duracell bunny-esque presence on the pitch.

But even though the club stripped through four managers in the season just gone, not one licensed a degree of trust upon the winger, and he did not feature in a single match after Sabri Lamouchi took over in February.

With one goal and an assist in the very limited time of 335 minutes- and merely three starts- it is difficult to be hard on the 27-year-old and contest that he did not make something of an impact last season given how little scope he had to do so, although, on the flip side, 31 league matches with just a solitary direct goal contribution prior to the two temporary moves and the fact that so many managers simply have not fancied him has done his case no favours.

That said, it appears that the third-tier, where his ability is certified and consistent minutes should be a guarantee, seems the ideal option.

Crucially, though, from their time together, Mousinho will doubtlessly be aware of what makes Whyte tick and the best tactical strategies to optimise his output in the final third.

As showcased in years gone by, he can lead a key role in this division. It is important to note then, that Portsmouth's wide players did not have the same impact in 2022/23.

Owen Dale, who was on loan from Blackpool, contributed to seven league goals in 43 outings, the departing Michael Jacobs amassed the same total in admittedly fewer minutes, meanwhile, January arrival Paddy Lane failed to reignite his former promise displayed at Fleetwood with only one goal and one assist to his name for Pompey thus far.

The curious case of Ronan Curtis continues to persist, too.

Following an alarmingly unproductive season- a rare sight indeed for a player of his talent and previous success- fresh terms are being worked upon with his deal set to expire in the summer, so he should be sticking around. But, of course, there are question marks regarding whether he can get back to his prior levels, and whether he can still be relied upon as the main man to fire Pompey back to the second-tier.

If he can, then Portsmouth will have a serious weapon on their hands once more, but irrespective of Curtis, Mousinho should be doing everything in his power to unite with Whyte for a third time.

What do we know already?

Mousinho himself has confirmed that there is definitive interest and it would be a simple, straight-forward decision if he was to sign Whyte courtesy of previous relations.

He explained to The News: "I know him, and I've played with him for a couple of seasons. I knew him when he first came over as a young lad from Northern Ireland, and then he came back on loan last season.

"I do know him really well, so maybe it's more of a straightforward one. With the other players, there's a lot more work which goes into them.

"That's not to say there's not a lot of work going into Gav, but it's quite an easy one in terms of saying I don't think it's an option, or it is an option.

"When I have played with players that recently it means I know everything about his character, it's maybe more straightforward to see if it's of interest or not."

From this, it would appear as though Mousinho is very keen to sign Whyte and perhaps, it may simply come down to the player's decision if this deal goes through or not.