Now Colby Bishop’s stay has been extended by another three-and-a-half years – and Pompey’s boss is eyeing continuing their remarkable journey together.
In January 2023, Mousinho took over a club languishing in 15th in League One, yet, encouragingly, possessing a striker with 14 goals to his name at that point.
Certainly the centre-forward position hasn’t been one to give the Blues head coach too much of a headache over the subsequent two years, excluding a three-month absence following Bishop’s heart surgery.
And even now, Mousinho cannot believe his good luck at finding a player of Bishop’s calibre at his disposal.
He told The News: ‘Colby was coming to the end of his contract. The club had an option and we felt safe in that, but we didn’t want to be getting into the last 12 months of Colby’s contract. We wanted to secure his services for the long term.
‘We’re trying to build a squad, we are trying to build a successful squad at this level, and we feel Colby can really be part of that.
‘We don’t think there are many centre-forwards out there that can do what Colby can do. We have one in the building and it’s wise to secure his services.
‘When I joined this club, the number nine we had here was the number nine you could build the team around. I thought we were quite fortunate at the time. We had Colby, Joe Pigott and Dane Scarlett when I walked into the building.
‘Dane is now playing for Spurs in the Premier League, I was convinced there is a Premier League player in there, while Colby has started the majority of the games since.
‘We spoke about how we could build the team around Colby, having that focal point. It has been successful over the past couple of seasons.
‘In that first season he scored 20 league goals, he went one better last year (21 league goals) – and has hit the ground running again this year.
‘It has always been great to have that and now I feel we have plenty of competition in that centre-forward department.’
While Bishop remained at Fratton Park to score 50 goals in 120 appearances to date, Scarlett and Pigott have continued to find goals away from the south coast.
Scarlett, now aged 20, scored in Spurs’ Europa League victory over Elfsborg in January and has since made two substitute outings in the Premier League.
The striker has also featured on loan for Ipswich and Oxford United in the Championship, the latter this season before being recalled by Spurs following four goals in 26 games.
As for Pigott, he has since represented Leyton Orient and AFC Wimbledon, totalling four league goals in the two years since leaving Fratton Park.
Mousinho added: ‘The best thing about the contract is the commitment from Colby and the commitment from the football club have been matched in terms of his ambitions and our ambitions. If you took out the fact Colby has come back from major heart surgery, it would be fully deserved anyway.
‘When you add that in, what an incredible achievement to return from that much earlier than scheduled, then contributing to the team to score goals and be effective, while pretty much starting every game he’s been available for.
‘We don’t give out contracts lightly, we give them out to players that deserve them – and Colby thoroughly deserves it.’
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