Look who's back: Portsmouth boosted by popular player's return - and are plotting when to unleash him

Kusini Yengi has returned to Pompey following the end of his Asian Cup commitments.

And Rich Hughes is hopeful the striker will be declared available for Saturday’s trip to Carlisle.

Yengi featured twice for Australia in the Qatar-based tournament before exiting at the hands of South Korea on Friday after an extra-time 2-1 quarter-final defeat.

International commitments have seen him miss Pompey’s last seven fixtures, with his last outing in the goalless draw at Exeter in the final match of 2023.

Now Yengi's back in England - and the Blues’ sporting director is pencilling in a comeback for the long trek to struggling Carlisle.

Hughes told The News: ‘Kas is back in the country now. He got on a flight very quickly after their defeat to South Korea on Friday and will be back in with the group this week.

‘All things being equal, he should be available for selection on Saturday.

‘We’re just going to have to keep an eye on jetlag and protect him a little after being in a different time zone for a period of time.

‘In terms of when he returns to training, our sports science staff will get hold of his GPS data and decide. With the nature of international tournaments, it’s quite a quick turnaround between games, so his training load might not have been that high.

‘Kas featured in two of Australia’s games, including one start. We just need to review and see exactly where he’s at in terms of his load - then we can come up with the best strategy to reintegrate him.’

Yengi started Australia’s 1-1 draw against Uzbekistan in the Asian Cup, featuring for the full 90 minutes.

Yet his only other involvement was eight minutes off the bench in a 1-0 win over Syria, although he did play 28 minutes in a pre-tournament friendly against Bahrain.

Since joining Pompey in July, Yengi has scored seven goals in 17 appearances to swiftly establish himself as a fan favourite for the League One leaders.

Hughes added: ‘I would like to hope Kas is available for Carlisle.

‘We can talk about data, minutes and loads, but actually the other thing we need to do is check with Kas and see how he’s feeling.

‘I suspect he’ll tell us he’s hot to trot and raring to get going!’