John Mousinho reveals when Alexander Milosevic could make Portsmouth debut
Portsmouth added to their defensive armoury last week, signing Swedish international defender Alexander Milosevic on a short-term deal.
The experienced, towering centre-half has joined as a free agent until the end of the season but has not yet been named by John Mousinho in a matchday squad.
Milosevic firstly couldn’t feature for Portsmouth against Leeds United as his international clearance hadn’t yet come through, while he was absent against Plymouth Argyle due to a lack of match fitness.
Mousinho makes Milosevic call
As soon as the 33-year-old’s availability became apparent, it was an obvious move really for Portsmouth to bring Milosevic to Fratton Park.
The former Nottingham Forest man has however not played since November, when he left former side AIK in his native Sweden – for whose national side he has nine caps.
Mousinho, speaking to BBC Radio Solent (13 March), has said the target to get Milosevic up to speed is for the return game from the international break against Blackburn Rovers (29 March).
This means the defender will not feature at Preston North End on Saturday (15 March), with only Regan Poole, midfielder Marlon Pack and out-of-favour Ryley Towler available as centre-half options at Deepdale.
Connor Ogilvie moved into the centre of defence during Wednesday night’s defeat by Plymouth, but Mousinho has lauded his excellent recent impact at left-back as the main reason he has remained in his primary position.
“[Milosevic] is pretty good, just as expected,” the head coach explained.
“I think the take with Alex is he hasn’t played since November and he obviously hasn’t trained.
“So we were always looking towards the back end of the international break and the Blackburn game for him to be fit.”
Portsmouth and the curse of the fit defenders
Portsmouth have been hit by multiple injury blows in defence over the past few weeks, often just when the players concerned were hitting a rich vein of form.
Conor Shaughnessy, Rob Atkinson and Hayden Matthews – the latter two only signed in January – have all been victims of this curse at Fratton Park this season.
Mousinho has dealt excellently with what he’s got, though has interestingly persisted with captain Pack to partner Poole at centre-half of late, a tactic he adopted in a similar crisis earlier this term.
| Portsmouth – players out of contract this summer | Extension option |
| Andre Dozzell | 1 year |
| Kusini Yengi | 1 year |
| Zak Swanson | 1 year |
| Alexander Milosevic | No |
| Ben Killip | No |
| Cohen Bramall | No |
Pack’s leadership on the pitch is unrivalled – only Matt Ritchie gets close to an impact in that regard – but his defensive attributes are inconsistent, meaning he followed up a stormer against Leeds with a poor showing against Plymouth.
Towler continues to be overlooked by Portsmouth and will probably seek an exit in the summer, and Poole was set to be out of contract in the summer alongside several teammates until recently signing a new deal until 2027.
While negotiations take place, Mousinho, Rich Hughes and the recruitment team will look to further strengthen a (hopefully) more established Championship outfit.