Portsmouth coach John Mousinho is full of praise for the ‘excellent’ Bailey Wright amid claims that the Sunderland defender could swap the Championship high-flyers for a fresh challenge in League One, speaking to The News.
With Danny Batth and the uber-versatile Luke O’Nien established as Tony Mowbray’s first-choice defensive partnership at the Stadium of Light, experienced Australian Wright has been limited to just six out of a potential 28 league starts this season.
And with Portsmouth in need of defensive reinforcements, the 30-year-old’s potential availability is not going unnoticed.
Pompey, Sports Illustrated say, are currently in pole position despite rival interest from Aberdeen north of the border (Daily Record). Mousinho, recently appointed to replace Danny Cowley at Fratton Park, worked with Wright during his formative years at Preston North End, and the pair could now be reunited on the South Coast.
Bailey Wright could leave Sunderland for Portsmouth
“I will have to speak to the recruitment team and see where we are,” Mousinho says. “I know about Bailey. He’s an excellent player and got Sunderland out of League One last year. Of course, he would be a really solid addition to the squad.
“But I genuinely haven’t had the chance to really look into that yet. We definitely will over the next couple of days.
“I was with Bailey when he was a young lad at Preston, playing in front of him. He was a solid centre-half then as well.”
Sean Raggett and Ryley Towler are currently Portsmouth’s only fully-fit central defensive options. Sunderland, in contrast, have what Mowbray describes as ‘an overload of central defenders’. In addition to O’Nien and Batth, the Black Cats boss can also call upon Dan Ballard and Aji Alese.
21-year-old Pierre Ekwah, joining from West Ham this week, can also play in the backline.
“I’m very much about the individual and what’s right for them,” Mowbray tells The Chronicle of Wright.
“If you’re talking about a footballer of, say, 32 or 33 years old and when everybody is fit he finds he is not on the bench, the human side of me says; ‘What do you want to do? Stay here and train every day? Or explore other avenues?’
“If they want to explore other avenues, then I am sympathetic to that.
“But we have to put the football club first. (If) the football club needs people at certain times and they won’t go anywhere.”
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