View: Portsmouth pursuit of Dembele may put 18.8% Lane at risk of dropping out of Mousinho’s XI
Portsmouth winger Paddy Lane enjoyed an excellent season at the club last year which culminated in promotion to the Championship.
The Northern Irishman came into his own and found a key place in John Mousinho’s side, scoring 12 league goals including the final hurrah of the campaign at Lincoln City – fittingly in the 12th minute of injury time in the league finale.
Controversy on the national team front soon arose when Lane turned down a call-up by Michael O’Neill for a training camp which included some friendlies against Spain and Andorra in the middle of the summer break, a bold decision backed by some quarters.
But the 23-year-old – for both his character and his performances on the pitch – has endeared himself to the supporters at Fratton Park.
As the club move into the realm of the second tier and the challenges that come with it, squad strengthening is inevitably underway and Lane may have to look over his shoulder with a particular target for Mousinho and Portsmouth, namely former Celtic winger Karamoko Dembele.
Lane could lose Portsmouth place if Dembele signs
There is already an interesting battle developing for places in certain areas of the pitch for Portsmouth, and certainly out wide, with both Josh Murphy and Sam Silvera added to the squad.
That existing crop includes Lane, Callum Lang, Christian Saydee, Anthony Scully, Gavin Whyte and even Kusini Yengi when you consider the occasional time he has been forced out wide to accommodate Colby Bishop as a lone striker.
Dembele’s eight goals and 13 assists on loan at Blackpool last season give him a similar level of output to Lane from last season, 21 goal contributions to Lane’s 19.
Where Pompey could improve upon Lane’s output is productivity on the ball in common situations: Dembele’s dribble success last season was an impressive 61.7%, in comparison to just 35% for Lane [Fotmob].
Statistics from Fotmob also revealed Dembele found a teammate with 29.8% of his crosses last term compared to just 18.8% of Lane’s deliveries – though this is of course impacted by the strengths of the players around them.
Dembele also received four fewer yellow cards – however, this is in part due to a superior defensive record for Lane, which Mousinho may decide takes precedence in a higher division.
The Scottish wide man does what he does excellently – he created more chances than a whopping 98% of his competitors last season – but can be defensively unreliable, in the bottom 4% of League One midfielders/wingers for successful defensive contributions.
It remains to be seen whether head coach Mousinho will go through with the Dembele pursuit or decide he has what he needs already at his disposal.
In other Portsmouth news, Pompey Women have made a double swoop of Blackburn Rovers.
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