Portsmouth have today been dealt a blow to their plans for the rest of this season, as two loanees have been sent back to their parent clubs.
The first decision was made by the parent club, as Championship side West Bromwich Albion chose to recall goalkeeper Josh Griffiths from his loan spell with the League One side. Griffiths has been one of the stand out performers for the League One side keeping eight clean sheets in 35 appearances for the side.
The second is striker Josh Koroma, whose loan spell is believed to have been terminated by the Blues themselves who chose to send the 24-year-old back to Huddersfield Town. Koroma got off to a strong start to life at Fratton Park, however, his form began to trail off towards the latter end of his spell with just five goals in his 24 appearances for the club in the end.
Our Verdict
Griffiths is a difficult name to replace for the promotion chasing side, his performances between the posts have helped them in their rise up the table this season, it remains to be seen if there is going to be any move to replace the young England goalkeeper, especially as the clubs search for a new manager goes on.
Koroma has been finding life difficult at Fratton Park so it makes perfect sense for the club to terminate his loan, especially as they currently have another promising young loanee in Dane Scarlett. Koroma has not scored for the club since the 8th of October, so it is painfully obvious why the frustration grew before the decision to terminate his loan.
For a team that was hopeful of promotion this season, they sit short of the mark and their failure to hit the target shows exactly why they sit 13th in the league nine points behind the play-off places having only scored 29 goals. It is not too late for the side though as they enter the second half of the season and replacing these two players will be vital to their season going forward.
Portsmouth fans, how do you feel about these players leaving? Who would you take to replace them?
