The 17-year-old has featured once for Chelsea’s first-time, arriving in an FA Cup quarter-final in April
John Mousinho has delivered a promise to Chelsea over Pompey’s first-team plans for Ryan Kavuma-McQueen.
And already the highly-regarded 17-year-old has shown tantalising early glimpses of the quality he can bring to the Blues’ side.
Ryan Kavuma-McQueen takes on QPR's Kealey Adamson. Picture: Sarah Ray-Gain/Getty Imagesplaceholder image
Ryan Kavuma-McQueen takes on QPR's Kealey Adamson. Picture: Sarah Ray-Gain/Getty Images | Getty Images
Introduced off the bench at half-time for Luke Brooke-Smith against QPR, Kavuma-McQueen emerged as one of Pompey’s best performers amid a disappointing 3-1 defeat.
Representing the teenager’s Football League debut, Mousinho was understandably singing the Chelsea winger’s praises afterwards.
And with Kavuma-McQueen scheduled to spend the season on loan at Fratton Park, the head coach has made a pledge to the Premier League giants.
‘We need a bit of time to bed him in’
Mousinho told The News: ‘Ryan was really lively against QPR. He was direct, he put himself about physically, he put in some very, very good crosses, and gave us a lot of energy.
‘In terms of where we are with Ryan, we need a bit of time to bed him in and get him into the system, playing the way we want to play - but I was really pleased with him.
Ryan Kavuma-McQueen in the thick of the action against QPR. Picture: Jeff Mood/ProSportsImagesplaceholder image
Ryan Kavuma-McQueen in the thick of the action against QPR. Picture: Jeff Mood/ProSportsImages | Jeff Mood/ProSportsImages
‘There is absolutely no pressure from Chelsea to play him. They want a good environment, which is in every conversation we have with every club, and we are extremely grateful to have him.
‘Chelsea have let us have the player and our promise to them is if he deserves to play then he’s definitely going to play. If he doesn’t play, then we’ll work as hard as we possibly can to get him into the team and improve him.
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‘If you have a young lad coming in at the age of 17, first of all I don’t think it’s going to be good for anyone if he ends up having to play 46 games. We also don’t want him just to play a smattering or handful of games here and there.
‘I think Ryan can have a significant impact. I am very, very excited to see what he does and, ultimately, it’s up to us as a coaching staff and up to him as a player to show that he’s worth a spot in the side.’
‘We think Ryan will be ready for the Premier League in 12 months’
Kavuma-McQueen made his senior debut against Shrewsbury in the EFL Trophy in August 2025, starting for Chelsea Under-21s in a 3-1 defeat.
His first-team bow was in April, when handed a 12-minute cameo off the bench in Chelsea’s 7-0 demolition of Port Vale in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
The Premier League club regard a move to Pompey as the next key stage in the attacker’s promising development, with a deal agreed last week.
And Mousinho is convinced the England Under-17 international has a huge future in the game.
He added: ‘We think Ryan will be ready for the Premier League in 12 months if he does well enough this year.
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‘Obviously that’s not going to be anything we’re going to have control of because he’s going to go back to Chelsea, so we aren’t pressuring him to come and start straight away or play 46 games.
‘What we do expect, though, is that he’ll have a significant impact on the first-team.’
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