View: Portsmouth may regret releasing academy star Koby Mottoh after rave reviews all season
Portsmouth may regret releasing Koby Mottoh after opting not to offer the teenager a professional contract, following superb reviews this season.
The winger enjoyed some memorable moments during his scholarship at Fratton Park, including a goal against Southampton in the Hampshire Cup at Fratton Park whilst aged just 16, and five first-team appearances this season across the Carabao Cup and EFL Trophy under John Mousinho.
Mottoh was the youngest second-year scholar in the country at the start of this season when he entered the campaign having yet to turn 17, and the former Arsenal prospect is now a free agent with his 18th birthday coming this August.
A bold and dynamic wide player, Mottoh was the Portsmouth academy top scorer during his first scholarship season, which saw him named on the bench for the first team against Port Vale in a League One contest in March 2023.
Rave reviews on Mottoh from Portsmouth
Whilst Portsmouth released 10 first-team players, the club also let go 12 scholars including Mottoh without offering the players professional terms.
Mottoh is arguably the most surprising of these, given some of the reviews on his development and impact from his coaches – and his decision was made after the other 11 had already been informed of their fate.
Academy lead PDP coach Sam Hudson said of the winger: “It’s been good to see the things we’ve been working on start to pay off with Koby. We played Forest Green and their left-back just couldn’t handle him.”
Mousinho said of Mottoh just last month: “Koby trained with us over [the course of] a couple of weeks, and we wanted to take a proper, sustained look at him. We’ll give anybody a chance who we think can impact the first team, but it’s a big step.”
Mottoh will no doubt gather a glowing reference from those who coached him at Pompey, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see an EFL club take a punt with a one or two-year professional contract for the hot prospect.
In other Portsmouth news, Mousinho could be the key link in securing a former £11m player.
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