Portsmouth boss John Mousinho has a contract dilemma to contend with regarding Jay Mingi’s future at the club, according to recent comments made by the Pompey manager to The News.
Jay Mingi has played zero minutes since the former Oxford player turned first-time manager came onto the scene at Fratton Park, his last cameo for Pompey coincidentally was against Charlton on New Year’s Day – Danny Cowley’s final game in charge of Portsmouth before being sacked.
Still, it’s not as if John Mousinho has purposely not been picking the former West Ham youth player. Jay Mingi has battled with a knee injury throughout his 2023 to date, an injury that left him sidelined for three months.
The 22-year-old finally returned to competitive action in a Pompey shirt versus AFC Bournemouth last month, featuring for the full 90 minutes in the heavy 5-2 Hampshire Cup Quarter Final defeat.
Regardless of the scoreline, Jay Mingi stated that he was just ‘grateful to be playing again’ after various demoralising setbacks with his injury.
Despite featuring in this one-off contest on the 21st of March, John Mousinho hasn’t named Jay Mingi in his squad for any League One matches since.
The youngster’s contract is due to expire at the end of the season, and at this point in time, there’s been no development on whether the 22-year-old midfielder will put pen to paper on a new deal to extend his stay at Fratton Park beyond the summer.
John Mousinho recently spoke to The News about this contract situation, with Championship club West Brom apparently interested in the injury-prone midfielder’s services.
“I’ve seen glimpses of the best of him in training, definitely, but the best of Jay would ultimately be out here on the pitch and we’ve not been able to see that.
“Although it was his first game back for quite a while, at Bournemouth [a 5-2 defeat in the Hampshire Senior Cup] we didn’t quite see that and we need to get him fit and out there if possible.”
The 36-year-old rookie manager won’t be rushing into a decision over the contract either, waiting to see if Jay Mingi can make an impact in Pompey’s first team between now and the conclusion of the League One campaign coming up.
“In terms of whether I want to keep Jay, we must have the conversation towards the back end of the season because we just haven’t seen enough of him.
“Ultimately, we need to see him on the pitch to make that decision. So it’s one I couldn’t give you an answer on right now.”
Writer’s View
Jay Mingi, before these injury concerns, was obviously regarded as a big prospect for the future. It’s a shame, therefore, that these constant injury niggles have thwarted his true potential shining at Pompey so far.
John Mousinho will have a tricky situation to solve in terms of Jay Mingi’s contract expiring, will he gamble and renew his contract despite his injury-prone last few months?
It will be intriguing to see the outcome and even more intriguing to see whether the young midfielder can put his fitness issues to one side and contribute at Pompey before the season ends.
