Portsmouth FC urged to complete transfer for "dangerous" Sunderland AFC man | OneFootball

Adil Aouchiche looks set to join Pompey for the rest of the season

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Portsmouth have been urged to complete the signing of out-of-favour Sunderland playmaker Adil Aouchiche before the winter window slams shut, amid recent rumours that he is set for a move to Fratton Park.

Pompey have been relatively busy in the transfer market since the turn of the year, with centre-back Rob Atkinson and midfielder Isaac Hayden each making the move to the club on loan from Bristol City and Newcastle United respectively, while Hayden Matthews has joined on a permanent switch from Sydney FC.

Just the one attacking signing has joined John Mousinho's squad as yet, with young striker Thomas Waddingham arriving from Brisbane Roar, but that is rumoured to change shortly as the promotion-winning boss aims to guide his side away from the relegation zone in the second-half of the season.

Black Cats' attacking midfielder Aouchiche has struggled for game-time amid their promotion push this term, and Portsmouth are now closing in on a loan deal to bring him to the south coast for the duration of the campaign, as first called by The News.

French youth international Aouchiche has been with Sunderland since the summer of 2023, and he impressed while being a rotation player last season, but he has seen his game-time dwindle and struggled to make his mark under compatriot Regis Le Bris in this campaign.

The 22-year-old has featured just 10 times in all competitions up to now this season, with five starts and two assists to his name, but a lot of those appearances were because of those injuries over the last month, and he has returned to the bench for the last three league games.

Foot Mercato have now followed up the News' report by claiming that there are only a few details to be settled before Aouchiche is a Portsmouth player for the rest of the season, and with the deal not yet quite over the line, our Pompey fan pundit, Miltos Ioannidis, has urged his club to seal the capture of the Black Cats man, and believes that he is the ideal player to be adding to Mousinho's final third options.

“I think that the position we need to ensure we strengthen in is the attack," Miltos told FLW.

“That’s because, while I think our front four in Colby Bishop, Josh Murphy, Callum Lang and Matt Ritchie have been really good, they can’t be playing in every game when the schedule is so tight.

“You’ve got the same four players playing over and over again. We’ve just come out of this very hectic winter period, and I think it has been a month-and-a-half now where we have been playing relentless football.

“You can’t rely on the same players to reach the same levels and keep delivering every week. Therefore, we need to strengthen in attack.

“Adil Aouchiche was a player that stood out to me when we played Sunderland earlier this month. I had no idea who he was prior to that game, but I remember he was one of their most dangerous players.

“I remember thinking to myself that we are lacking a player with a profile like his.

“From what Sunderland fans say about him, he can be a frustrating player to watch at times, and perhaps his move there hasn’t quite gone to plan, or as they would have imagined it to.

“There is certainly a player in there, and with what we have at the moment, he would certainly come in handy as a nice pick-up, and a nice boost to add to what we already have in attack.

“From what I have also read, he is far from being the finished product. He is the sort of profile that I think would suit a John Mousinho team, because his versatility seems to be one of his primary assets.

“He can play as a number 10, which Sunderland fans say he is best at, and he can also play as a left-winger and on the right-wing as well.

“I really hope we strengthen in the attacking department over the coming days. It is, without a doubt, the main area in which we need to come out of the window better than how we went into it.

“If it is Aouchiche, and if John Mousinho believes that he can be enough, then so be it.

“I still think, even if we get him in, we are still probably shy of at least another attacking player. Our only four attackers that can play right now are Bishop, Murphy, Lang and Ritchie.

“There is also someone like Christian Saydee, who can come off the bench, but hasn’t really proved himself that much in the Championship.

“Thomas Waddingham too, but you can’t put pressure on him as a 19-year-old Australian boy who has just jumped across the continent.

“We still need to add to that attack, and hopefully Aouchiche can contribute if he joins.”

Aouchiche looks like a smart signing for Pompey if he joins

Portsmouth have definitely not struggled for goals so far this season, as they are the highest-scoring team of any in the bottom-half of the second-tier, despite sitting in 21st place.

With that in mind, it has been no surprise to see the club mainly focus on defensive reinforcements in the winter window, but a shrewd loan signing like Aouchiche could well be the catalyst to their Championship survival this season.

The versatile attacking midfielder was born and raised in Paris, and after joining PSG's youth ranks as a 12-year-old, he went on to graduate from their academy and even feature for the first-team in the 2019/20 season, scoring once in three appearances.

Aouchiche went on to move to Saint Étienne in 2020, and played regularly for ASSE in Ligue 1 for two seasons before being bought by Lorient, who were then coincidentally managed by current Sunderland boss Le Bris.

However, Le Bris and Aouchiche did not really see eye-to-eye while at Les Merlus, and he was often left out of the team. Unsurprisingly, an all-too-familiar scenario has also panned out this time around.

He seemed like a real coup for Sunderland when he joined on a five-year deal from Lorient in 2023, but he failed to properly adapt to English football in his debut season and will have been hoping to kick on in 2024/25, yet his chances have once again been limited.

According to FBref, when compared to other Championship midfielders last season, the 22-year-old was in the 95th percentile for shot-creating actions per game (5.23), 96th percentile for progressive passes recieved per game (8.49) and 97th percentile for key passes per game (2.70), so it is quite clear that he can have a huge impact on a game at the level when trusted to by a head-coach.

If he does join Pompey before the window slams shut, he will provide a very different option to any of Mousinho's existing attackers, as he is more of a natural number 10 than Callum Lang, and plays with more finesse and guile than either of Matt Ritchie and Josh Murphy.

Aouchiche certainly looks like a very shrewd pick-up for any team battling near the bottom of the Championship, and Portsmouth will fancy their chances of staying away from the bottom three if he arrives and quickly finds his feet at Fratton Park.