Miguel Azeez reveals teammate friction at Portsmouth – ‘I’m outspoken’
Portsmouth have taken many loanees from the Premier League’s elite clubs down the years and continue to do so.
Kaide Gordon is the latest to have been lent to Pompey from a ‘big-six’ club in Liverpool, when he joined on Deadline Day in the winter window (3 February).
Another player to have come through the doors of Fratton Park in the past is former Arsenal prospect Miguel Azeez, who featured in just six League One matches under Danny Cowley in the 2021-22 season.
Azeez stunned Portsmouth teammates with comments
Azeez is an eccentric character, a young man enthralled by the arts – music, fashion and a landscape a far cry from football – but maintains his dedication to the game is second to none.
The 22-year-old made a sole appearance for the Arsenal first team and while matters did not work out at Pompey, he has since played in Spain and currently Greece in a bid to rebuild his path.
Speaking to The Athletic (18 February), Azeez recalled a time he shocked his Fratton teammates into a belief he was an arrogant and deluded player, during a team meeting with Cowley.
“As a person, I’m outspoken. If I believe something, I say it,” the PAS Giannina midfielder affirmed.
He explained: “It was a squad meeting where we were to say our ambitions for the season and career. I said I wanted to be one of the best players in the world, which I still say.
“I didn’t know this until after I left but it was taken as: ‘Who is he coming from Arsenal saying this?’ but that was just my goal.”
Portsmouth have progressed considerably since Cowley days
Azeez can be reserved some sympathy for the attitude towards his lofty ambitions – he still has time on his side and finds an idol in his older brother Femi, now impressing in the Championship for Millwall.
But it was a product of its time. The 2021-22 campaign may not be too long ago but was still during a time synonymous with the immense frustration, Portsmouth stuck in the rut of League One with no confident chance of promotion.
Cowley is a well-respected individual among many Blues fans, but he was ultimately unable to match the club’s ambitions.
John Mousinho replaced him in January 2023 and has achieved what the board desperately wanted, and the supporters even more so. Nowadays, if a similar team meeting was to occur, comments from a player like those claimed by Azeez would be more commonplace. The likes of Gordon, for example, coming from Liverpool want to solidify a career at the top level.
The Championship and League One is presenting an ever-increasing gulf and while Pompey have many players to thank for their service over the past 10-15 years, many of them do fall under the ‘journeyman’ category.
These hardened pros would brush off elite-level ambitions as the arrogance of a luxury player who would constitute a misfit in a lower-league-battling side.
The idea that Azeez would probably be a better fit at Fratton in the Championship than in League One is reminiscent of how far Pompey have progressed and the types of ambitions now harboured by their eager young talents.