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'I love working with him': Portsmouth boss backs blossoming defender to shake up first-team The former Haugesund defender has made seven appearances for the Blues since his February arrival John Mousinho insists Madiodio Dia is flourishing at Fratton Park - and now primed to break up Pompey’s long-standing centre-half partnership. The Senegalese defender continues to hugely impress Pompey’s head coach since his February switch from Haugesund on transfer deadline day. Having left Norwegian football for the English Championship, there has been the inevitable adaptation period for the 22-year-old, who was thrown in the deep end last season when tasked with nullifying Norwich, Middlesbrough and Coventry away from home. Nonetheless, following seven outings and a strong pre-season, Mousinho has been delighted with Dia’s ongoing development amid a congested central defender pool. And while Conor Shaughnessy and Regan Poole are the Blues’ first-choice double act when fit, Dia has been backed to potentially break them up. ‘I see him being one of our front-line centre-backs’ Mousinho told The News: ‘I thought Jojo had an excellent season last year considering he came over on deadline day. ‘He previously played 26 games for Haugesund, then settled down very, very well here and settled into the level. He’s performed pretty well over pre-season and we’ve got really high hopes for him. ‘We’ve definitely got a good player there, we’ll just keep working on him all the time to make sure he gets to the levels we think he can get to. ‘The biggest compliment I can pay to Jojo is we threw him into some pretty tough games last season. His full debut was Swansea at home, he then played away at Norwich, away at Middlesbrough, away at Coventry. Look at those four games for starters. ‘He also played away at Stoke (April), which was probably a nice one for Jojo because there was no pressure there, unlike previous weeks. So, overall, I’m really, really pleased with how he has settled in, how he has improved things. ‘The more he plays over here, the more he trains, the more games he gets, the better he will become. I see him properly competing for one of those slots - and I see him being one of our front-line centre-backs.’ Three centre-halves on Portsmouth bench at West Ham Dia was among three centre-halves on the bench at West Ham for Saturday’s opening game of the season, joining Hayden Matthews and Josh Knight. Yet the youngster is regarded by Pompey’s hierarchy as next in line should Poole or Shaughnessy require replacing in the first-team. Pompey were eliminated from the Carabao Cup by the Hammers in a 3-1 defeat, having conceded three goals in a disastrous seven-minute spell either side of half-time. With Ibane Bowat departing for Huddersfield last week, Mousinho now has five players challenging for two central-defensive positions in his starting XI. And he believes each of them brings something different to the side, offering plenty of important variation. ‘I love working with him’ He added: ‘Jojo’s definitely a different profile to our other centre-halves, he gives us something which is different. ‘All our centre-halves have something unique about them and they're very, very different - and Jojo’s got that. ‘I love working with him, he’s a really, really good lad who is very, very popular in the dressing room. I think he’ll have a great career.’ Your Next Pompey Read: 'I've played it many times': Portsmouth's Ebou Adams on why he is suited to be a number 10