Portsmouth boss John Mousinho has revealed a huge injury boost for the club over former Arsenal defender Zak Swanson in an interview with The Portsmouth News.
Former Arsenal defender Zak Swanson has been out of action, due to a groin injury, since last January, his last appearance coming against Peterborough United in League One at the end of January.
The 22-year-old returned to training at the end of April, but Mousinho ruled the defender out of Pompey’s remaining two fixtures still. This meant that the defender had missed the final 20 games of the Blues’ season, as they eventually fell short of the playoff places.
However, with the club beginning pre-season training next Monday, the Portsmouth boss has revealed that the right-back will be fit to return to the side to take part next week.
Swanson arrived during pre-season last summer from Arsenal for an undisclosed fee and quickly broke into the first team, playing 15 times in League One for Pompey, scoring two goals and providing one assist before his injury in January.
It was reported this week that those performances appear to have attracted the interest of sides in the Championship, with both Swansea City and Coventry City claimed to be admirers of the right-back, the two second-tier sides both appearing not to be put off by Swanson’s season being cut short by injury.
‘We can’t afford to have him miss the amount of games he missed. I think he missed 20 consecutive games at the back end of last season and for a young player, who needs to push to break into the side this season, the first thing he needs to do is make sure everything is intact physically.
However, Portsmouth boss John Mousinho was quick to play down that interest, as he discussed the interest in Swanson, stating that he would not be entertaining offers for the former Arsenal man.
Swanson joined Arsenal at the age of six and spent his career there until joining Portsmouth last season. During his time at the Emirates Stadium, he would make six appearances for the under-23 side but was never given a chance to break into the first team for the Gunners.
His first and only loan spell with Arsenal came in August 2020, the defender joined MVV Maastricht on loan in the Netherlands on a season-long loan deal, however, after just three appearances with the Dutch side, he would be recalled by Arsenal. He departed the Gunners last July and in October of last year, his first senior goal came for Portsmouth in a draw with Shrewsbury Town.
Writer’s View
Swanson is a talented player and his quick breakthrough into the first team at Fratton Park has shown it, it is no surprise to see interest coming from the Championship for the defender. It is a significant boost for Portsmouth to have Swanson back available for pre-season, giving him more time for a new season in football.
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