According to the latest reports, Portsmouth are going to miss their star centre back Jack Whatmough for the rest of the season. The defender is going to require surgery on his right knee, and Kenny Jackett and the club has been dealt a body blow as they try to fight for the automatic promotion spots.
Whatmough worked his way up Portsmouth’s academy and was firmly the first choice centre back option for the club as he had made 30 appearances so far in all competitions. It is not the first time that Whatmough has come down with a severe injury in his young career and there have been three previous occasions when the centre back had to be sidelined for a lengthy period of time.
The Hampshire outfit are already reeling with the loss of players as quite a few first-team options returned to their parent clubs in January. Jackett recently talked about the Whatmough’s situation and said (The News), ”It’s not good news – he’s going to need an operation, perhaps in the next week.
‘It’s quite a serious one unfortunately, and we wish him all the best
‘In terms of the club, we will be supporting him again through what looks like will be a long-term injury. There’s a lot of respect and admiration for his determination. He’s going to need it again in the months going forward.”
The defender started his footballing career with Southampton but left them soon to join Portsmouth’s u-18 setup. Since then, the defender has gradually gone up the ranks at the club and is now an established member of the first team. The Englishman was having a quality season and not too long ago; the centre back had committed his long term future at Fratton Park.
Christian Burgess is going to be his likely replacement, and the manager would hope that he and Matt Clarke can form a formidable partnership similar to what Clarke and Whatmough had together. Apart from that, the manager also has the 19-year-old, Matthew Casey at his disposal who is yet to make his senior team debut in the League One. Therefore the club has been dealt a rough hand at the wrong time of the season.
Maybe if the injury had occurred in January, the Pompey could have gone in the transfer market to look for his replacement, but now the manager needs to rely on Christian Burgess to start at the back week in week out. No doubt losing Whatmough for the remainder of this campaign is a big blow for Jackett’s team. Portsmouth’s season now hangs in the balance as they have slipped to the third spot after occupying the first place for quite a while.
