Ronan Curtis: How is the ex-Portsmouth FC star getting on at AFC Wimbledon? | OneFootball

From the outside looking in, the last 12 months have surely been a challenging period for Ronan Curtis.

After turning down a new contract at Portsmouth in the summer, the seven-cap Irish international took a brave decision considering that he was injured at the time.

Of course, with Portsmouth having a duty of care, the 27-year-old remained at the club during his rehabilitation, but this ended in December, as confirmed by Pompey boss John Mousinho recently.

"Ronan is not around any more, he hasn’t been here for a couple of weeks," Mousinho told The News in mid-December.

"Obviously after he turned the contract down in the summer the intention was to make sure we provided him with everything we possibly could to make sure he was back and fit.

"Now he has gone to find something somewhere else and we wish him the best of luck.

"Ronan was great to have around the place, credit to him, if you are coming in and aren’t necessarily a signed-up squad member, that can be difficult.

"However, he conducted himself really well and we’d like to think we did the same for him in terms of making sure we gave him access to that top-class rehab.

"He has been here for a number of years and will be sorely missed by everybody, he’s a popular figure among the Fratton faithful."

Ronan Curtis joins AFC Wimbledon

Following his exit from Portsmouth and recovery from injury, it was never going to take a player as talented as Curtis too long to fnd another club and so that proved to be the case.

On January 19th, AFC Wimbledon announced Curtis' capture, with the former Pompey man putting pen to paper on a short-term deal until the end of the season.

Upon signing, Curtis told AFC Wimbledon club media: “It feels amazing to be here,”

"I have to pay my respects to Wimbledon for letting me come in and get back fit. It’s a lovely stadium and we have a great bunch of lads here. There’s good players that can give me the ball, I thrive on my goals and assists.

“The message is plain and simple. I need to go and express myself, do what I do best, score goals and set up goals. Hopefully we can get in the play-offs and see what happens. I’m here to be a team player.”

Curtis' AFC Wimbledon stint so far

Whilst it is still very early days, here at FLW, we thought we'd take a look at how Curtis has settled in at Plough Lane in the opening weeks of his deal.

It has certainly taken the 27-year-old no time to show what he can do in front of goal, either.

Indeed, on his League Two debut for the Dons, Curtis bagged a 90th-minute winner to earn Wimbledon an impressive three points against high-flying Mansfield Town in late January.

In his first league start for the club at the weekend, Curtis third outing in the fourth tier for the club, the Irishman was on the scoresheet again, this time opening the scoring against AFC Barrow in the 16th minute.

Given he is coming back from injury, Curtis' minutes are being closely managed, and in midweek, he came on from the bench once again in Wimbledon's -2-0 away defeat at Accrington Stanley.

In total so far, then, Curtis has made five appearances for the Dons, four in League Two, and one in the EFL Trophy.

With his minutes being managed carefully as he returns from injury, Curtis has still been able to make a positive impact, scoring two goals so far, one of which earned the club three points.

As the season progresses, Curtis' minutes are likely to ramp up, and you certainly would expect more goals from the Irishman between now and May if that happens.