Tue Nov 07, 2023 5:40 pm
Portsmouth boss John Mousinho believes Gavin Whyte's slow start to life in Pompey might be down to "two or three years" of frustration at Cardiff City.
Whyte was a regular under Neil Warnock in his first season, but successive managers then decided to overlook him and he was sent on loan to Hull City and Oxford United, only having a brief look-in under Mark Hudson on occasions last season. But there was no shock when his name was on the release list this summer.
The Northern Irishman has started only eight League One games this term, though, and is yet to register a goal or assist so far. And Mousinho knows there is more to come from the winger.
"The biggest compliment we can pay is we thought he was doing something right, but still know there’s a huge amount of potential in there, otherwise there’d be no point bringing him to the football club," he said. "What we need him to do is put all those glimpses together and start churning out those consistent performances.
"You can’t compare players exactly, but there are some useful comparisons as well. It’s never quite straightforward and it took Paddy Lane quite a while, having suffered for the opening six months of the season at Fleetwood.
"Gav’s probably had a longer period of frustration, it was two or three years in and out of Cardiff, while he played a few games here and there for Northern Ireland.
‘"We know he’s going to get there at some point, the sooner the better, but it takes a bit of patience. We have to make sure we work through all of that and probably harness the potential. Once he gets his first goal for the club, I’m pretty sure things are going to skyrocket."