His Championship form soared with John Mousinho making a significant assessment of the midfielder’s displays at Fratton Park this season.
John Mousinho believes Andre Dozzell’s form soared to a career high as he played a central role in Pompey’s Championship survival.
Dozzell is remaining at PO4 next term, after arriving as a free agent when leaving Championship rivals QPR last summer.
Mousinho made what seemed a big statement, when billing Dozzell as an operator with ‘Premier League potential’ after he joined Pompey.
But the talent was there for Blues fans to see, as they made their appreciation clear for the former Ipswich and Birmingham man’s displays through the rump of the season. Now Mousinho wants to see Dozzell raise the bar higher in a campaign he ranks as the best of the players’ career.
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He said: ‘You can see it (Premier League potential), the main thing for Andre is to bring a consistency of top performance. We see it every day in training and I think we’ve seen it in the second half of the season.
‘He’s been a standout player in a new role, which was probably a bit more advanced than being a six.
‘He’s got a load of energy to his game and he can add goals to his game. He scored two and can add a load more, because he’s a good finisher arriving late in the box.
‘There is that potential there to come from Andre, but I also think that’s the best I’ve seen him play consistently across a season for many year, probably his whole career. So I’m really looking forward to next season.
Andre Dozzell celebrates his goal at QPR.Andre Dozzell celebrates his goal at QPR.
Andre Dozzell celebrates his goal at QPR. | National World
‘Early in the season maybe the game drifted by him at times, so it’s about him taking the game by the scruff of the neck, getting the ball, driving forward and dominating games - as we think he can.
‘Physically he’s not the biggest, but he can really get around and win his tackles. When he puts all that together he’s a hell of a player.’
Why Pompey midfielder was left out of Championship run-in
Dozzell’s future was tied to Pompey securing their place in the Championship, with an extension off the back of remaining in the division.
He had to be content with a role on the bench through the run of games which secured his team’s place in the division, but Mousinho explained that wasn’t a reflection of Dozzell’s form.
Mousinho said: ‘We had the option to trigger Andre’s contract if we remained in the league, which we definitely wanted to do.
‘He was a victim early on when he was left out of a struggling team, but Andre kept his head down and we brought him back.
‘When he came back he had a spell of football which was really good, and he was an excellent performer. That was the case for the majority of the season.
‘It was a strange one towards the end because we left Andre out. It wasn’t because of his performances really, but we lost four out of five games.
‘We wanted something a bit fresher and Isaac (Hayden) was champing at the bit to come back. So we decided to leave Andre out but it wasn’t because of performance at all, but we also knew we had Andre for next year and were excited about that.’
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