2 weeks Ago
Aouchiche joined Portsmouth on loan in January and has made 12 Championship appearances for the Fratton Park club, who have effectively guaranteed their survival in recent weeks given they are now six points clear of the relegation zone with just two games remaining. The French midfielder started Portsmouth’s Good Friday win at Norwich, but suffered a fracture to his wrist that forced him off in the closing stages of the game. Aouchiche tried to play in Easter Monday’s home game with Watford despite the injury, but was struggling throughout the first half and was eventually replaced at half-time.
Mousinho, who has suggested he would be open to the idea of signing Aouchiche on a permanent basis, will now give the 22-year-old time to fully recover, which means he is unlikely to feature in either of Portsmouth’s final two matches of the season against Sheffield Wednesday and Hull. “Aouchiche had the fracture previously,” explained the Pompey boss. “He tried to play with it (against Watford) and it just wasn’t right.
So, I don’t think we’ll see Adil play at the weekend. READ MORE : “He’s fine, the injury is the same, it’s just a case of trying to test it to see if can play with it. It’s one of those things, it doesn’t obviously affect him football-wise, but he can’t hold players off, can’t properly close players down, can’t really go into challenges and I think that plays on your mind and starts to affect the playing side as well.
I’m not sure we’ll risk him unless he’s 100 per cent.” The terms of Aouchiche’s loan deal at Fratton Park do not include a clause for a permanent transfer at the end of the current campaign, so Sunderland will have a decision to make over the Frenchman’s future this summer. Aouchiche made a reasonably positive start to his Black Cats career after joining from Lorient on a five-year contract in September 2023.
However, he fell out of favour under Regis Le Bris, with Sunderland’s head coach suggesting he was willing to sanction a permanent departure in the January window. That didn’t happen, but while it is hard to see Aouchiche having much of a future under Le Bris, Kristjaan Speakman refused to close the door on the midfielder when his loan was announced in January. “He (Aouchiche) would like to play more regularly, and we believe this opportunity will enable him to do that in a competitive environment that will support his development,” said Speakman at the time.
“We look forward to reviewing his progress at the end of the campaign.”.
