John Mousinho has confirmed he has no intention of sending the summer Liverpool arrival out on loan to gain experience, after returning to training.
Blair has not featured since the draw at Swansea at the end of November and has been struggling with a knee issue, which curtailed his squad involvement. The 21-year-old has now returned to the fray, however, which appears a timely boost given fears over Paddy Lane potentially facing a stint in the treatment room.
Lane was forced off with a knee injury picked up just before the break in the 3-0 defeat at Blackburn Rovers, which left Pompey in the Championship relegation places.
The Blues are awaiting further details of the extent of the issue, with swelling needed to go down on the problem area before the winger is scanned. The fact there was no one near Lane as he went down is a cause for concern, however, with fears it may not be a short-term lay-off.
That provides added significance to Blair coming back into the fold, ahead of Saturday’s clash with Middlesbrough at Fratton Park.
Given the £300,000 signing has started one game this term amid eight outings in total, a development loan didn’t appear out of the question this month. Mousinho made it clear, however, that’s not on the agenda for the winger and he’s wanted at PO4.
He said: ‘Harvey is training and he’s close to being back. It’s good to have Harvey back, he trained on Saturday with us and again this week.
‘We’re just managing him back to fitness and he needs a bit of time, dipping him in and out of the first team and back with S&C (strength and conditioning) making sure he’s got that strength and is ready to go.
‘He’ll be here now (over the second half of the season) he won’t be going anywhere.’
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