Football League World
·9 July 2025
Portsmouth player set for Fratton Park transfer exit - he played 41 times in 2024-25 season

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·9 July 2025
Veteran winger Matt Ritchie is on the way out of Pompey
Portsmouth winger Matt Ritchie is set for a surprise Portsmouth transfer exit this month.
Pompey are yet to really get going in the transfer window so far, with the only arrival at Fratton Park being winger Adrian Segecic from Sydney FC, continuing John Mousinho's preference to land Australia's top young talents.
Segecic is a winger by trade, and with Portsmouth having a number of players operating out wide, it was always likely that there was going to be at least one departure this summer - and one now looks likely.
According to a report from The News, Matt Ritchie is close to finalising his departure from Portsmouth for a second time in his career - just one year after returning to Fratton Park.
It is claimed that the 35-year-old has been told by Mousinho that he cannot be guaranteed game-time in the Championship in the upcoming 2025-26 season, after he was looking for re-assurances over his minutes.
Ritchie has not joined his team-mates out in Slovakia for Portsmouth's pre-season training camp - instead, he has stayed in England to try and find a new club so that he can move on to try and play as many games as possible in the latter stages of his career.
Portsmouth welcomed Ritchie back into the fold last summer some 13 years after his initial exit to Swindon Town, having featured just 10 times for Pompey as a youngster.
He would of course go on to become a Scotland international, earning 16 caps for the Tartan Army, and he would also play 182 times for both Newcastle United and AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League.
Ritchie would return closer to his Gosport roots though last year when re-joining Portsmouth, and he scored five times from his 39 Championship appearances - 28 of those being starts under Mousinho.
Given the fact he was so prominent for Portsmouth last season, Ritchie's sudden expected departure will have come a bit out of the blue for many.
Ritchie will soon turn 36 years old, but he still showed last season he can operate at second tier level - but it appears he wanted more game-time than he has been guaranteed.
The new signing of Segecic - who can play wide on the right although operated more out on the left or as a number 10 for Sydney last season - will likely have affected Ritchie's planned minutes, with Josh Murphy, Paddy Lane and Harvey Blair also all under consideration too.
Whilst it will be sad for Pompey fans to see Ritchie depart, there should be no reason why he can't get a good move for himself this summer, based off his showings in the Championship last season.