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‘A young Virgil van Dijk’: Exciting verdict on new Portsmouth signing and highly-rated Brentford talent Benjamin Arthur Pompey completed the signing of defender Benji Arthur on a season-long loan from Brentford on Wednesday Pompey have been given a glowing reference over new signing Benji Arthur. The defender became the eighth new arrival through the doors at Fratton Park this summer, joining Odin Bailey, Eoin Kenny, Rocco Shein, Marco Milovanovic, Daniel Bielica, Luke Brooke-Smith and Abu Kamara. Pompey sign highly-rated ex-Celtic man on loan The Hoops reportedly fended off Championship interest to land the Gtech Community Stadium academy graduate on a temporary basis in January and went on to impress during six first-team outings at Celtic Park. Despite being left out of Martin O’Neill’s final five league squads, he made valuable contributions to the club’s Scottish Premiership and Scottish FA Cup double, with Celtic reportedly looking to re-sign the England youth international earlier this summer. However, Brentford were not looking to part ways with Arthur on a permanent basis during the window, instead opting for another loan move to further his development. Having been a regular in Keith Andrews’ pre-season plans, the promising centre-back, who has registered three first-team outings for the Bees, was given the green light to join Pompey on a temporary basis this week. But what can the Fratton faithful expect from their new arrival? Exciting verdict on new Pompey signing Benjamin Arthur Someone who knows Arthur better than most is current Dundee boss Steven Pressley, who worked with the defender in Brentford’s youth ranks. Speaking after his switch to Celtic in January, the 52-year-old detailed the centre-back's standout qualities as well as tipping him with a successful career at the highest level. Pressley said at the time: ‘Benjy Arthur is a player I worked really closely with in my time at Brentford. I really like him and rate him as a player. ‘I don’t want to put much pressure on him, but he does remind me of a young Virgil van Dijk. He is a huge unit but also very mobile. ‘He is right sided. Benjy is very calm and clean in his defending. He is very assured, quick, strong and powerful. He has got so many good attributes that all the top modern day defenders require. ‘I spoke to Shaun Maloney about him the other day. I told him how highly I rated him and he is a player with huge potential. ‘They, in my opinion, have made a good acquisition. Of course, it is his first loan. This will be a new experience for the player but he is a player who has huge potential. ‘There was a lot of interest in Benjy. I know there were several English Championship clubs who were keen on him and also Celtic came in, so he had a lot of options.’ Arthur joins Regan Poole, Conor Shaughnessy, Josh Knight, Hayden Matthews and Madiodio Dia on Mousinho’s ranks at the heart of defence. The head coach is now looking to trim down his centre-back options, with potentially two exits targeted before the close of the window on September 2. Your next Pompey read: QPR confirm statement signing of ex-Sunderland man ahead of Portsmouth opener