John Mousinho Confirms Portsmouth Position Over Future Of £80,000 Star

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho has confirmed the club plan to trigger a 12-month extension clause in Kusini Yengi’s contract.

Portsmouth have enjoyed a fine turnaround in the Championship after a poor start to the season. Pompey have had a tough time of things in their first campaign back in the second tier, but things are looking good as it stands.

Last year’s League One winners are nine points clear of the drop in 17th place in the Championship table, a position buoyed by strong form at Fratton Park.

The move up a league has made this a season of transition though, and some of the stars of the 2023/24 campaign have found action harder to come by.

Among them is Kusini Yengi, who has played only eight times for Portsmouth – though injury has kept him out for big chunks.

Despite those struggles though and a lack of form in the matches he did play in, Pompey are under no illusions over his future. Yengi is out of contract this summer but John Mousinho has confirmed a 12-month extension option is in place, and they plan to trigger it.

“We’ve got an option on Kas. I know that means he is out of contract, but as far as we’re concerned we’ve got him for another 18 months,” the Portsmouth boss told The News.

“We’re constantly monitoring these things and in contact with agents and players.

“‘here’s no panic over that situation, in my mind he’s not out of contract at the end of the season. That option gives us that protection there.”

Looking to get back to his best

Yengi hasn’t made a Portsmouth appearance since the start of November due to injury, but he was back on the bench against QPR last week.

Fit and available again, he’ll be out to get back to his best. The Australian international was a force to be reckoned with in League One, managing 13 goals and two assists in 31 games over the 2023/24 season.

The 26-year-old attacker has the physical attributes to be a handful at any level and hopefully with injury issues in the past, he’ll be able to play a role in seeing out Pompey’s first year back in the Championship.

What could the summer hold for Yengi?

While Mousinho is confident over the future of Yengi, what the summer actually holds could be another question.

It may be that he’s contracted to Portsmouth until next summer, but it remains to be seen whether they look to tie him down to another contract beyond that or if they take a chance to cash in before potentially losing him for nothing.

Pompey paid only £80,000 to sign Yengi from Adelaide United in July 2023, so it would be expected that any sale generates a profit. That could appeal to the south coast side in a bid to free up funds and financial leeway to strengthen the side.