Franco Umeh out for season after tearing hamstring against Arsenal

FRANCO BLOW: Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly and Portsmouth's Franco Umeh-Chibueze battle for the ball. Pic: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire.

Cork native Franco Umeh will miss the rest of the season with a hamstring tear he suffered during Portsmouth's loss to Arsenal in the FA Cup.

The former Ringmahon Rangers and Cork City star made his second appearance of the season for Pompey as a first half sub in their FA Cup third round loss to the Premier League leaders.

But unfortunately for the 20-year-old, he was forced to withdraw in the closing stages with an issue his manager John Mousinho has now confirmed will rule him out for the rest of the campaign. 

“Franco’s torn his hamstring, so I suspect it will be a difficult one for Franco to return at some point this season," said Mousinho.

"Not because of the severity of the injury necessarily, but because, if and when he’s back after 6-8 weeks, I think it’s going to be a long, long build-up before he’s ready to go again.

"Having come back and not started a single game for us, to expect him to contribute at the end of the season might be a difficult one.”