View: Portsmouth release host of young stars as contribution to first team is assessed
Portsmouth have significantly trimmed down their squad already this summer as the club released 10 out-of-contract players at Fratton Park.
Among those 10 were regular players, fringe members of the first-team squad, and also young professionals.
The departures of the likes of Sean Raggett and Joe Rafferty have been well documented and discussed, with players such as Lee Evans, Josh Martin, Matt Macey and Ryan Schofield also moving on.
But the releases of Haji Mnoga, Harry Jewitt-White, Liam Vincent and Josh Dockerill have not had too much coverage, despite them ‘making it’, per se, at Pompey as young players.
It remains to be seen how much of an opportunity John Mousinho will give to youth and what chance he’ll get next season, whilst navigating a tough test back in the Championship and no longer competing in the EFL Trophy, which had previously given numerous starlets their senior debuts in blue.
Portsmouth bid farewell to young stars
Of the young players leaving Portsmouth having featured for the academy sides, Mnoga is a notable departure. Debuting at 16 as the second-youngest player in the club’s post-war history, the imposing defender was tipped for a long and prosperous Pompey future.
Mnoga found regular first-team action during two loan spells with Aldershot Town, and departs Fratton Park with 18 senior games under his belt, and as a Tanzania international.
Jewitt-White joined the club at the age of just seven and leaves having made nine senior outings for Pompey. Another who debuted in the EFL Trophy at 16 – the third-youngest for the club post-war behind Mnoga and Joe Hancott – the midfielder gathered experience with loans at Havant & Waterlooville and Gosport Borough.
Vincent was not a Pompey youth product, but joined the club aged 18 from Bromley, who have just earned EFL status. The left-back, also capable on the left of midfield, did not make a senior bow for the club but was named in the League One matchday squad nine times in 2021-22 before a series of loans.
Dockerill was an academy graduate who signed as a first-year pro last summer. The defender, who can also operate in midfield, was handed his first-team debut as a scholar in November 2022 in the EFL Trophy, playing half an hour. Dockerill spent some of last season on loan with Bognor Regis Town.
In other Portsmouth news, the EFL have revealed when the Blues will begin their first season back in the Championship.
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