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Why Portsmouth faithful shouldn't be surprised by latest Josh Murphy development ahead of Darmstadt game Pompey fans are desperate for Josh Murphy to return to action, but their wait looks set to continue as the Blues prepare to face Darmstadt in Germany today Josh Murphy’s continued Pompey absence remains a key talking point amongst sections of the Fratton Park fanbase. It’s a topic of discussion that intensified after it emerged on Friday that the winger hasn’t travelled with the rest of his Blues team-mates to Germany for their final warm-up game of pre-season against Darmstadt 98 today. But both the player and head coach John Mousinho had previously said the much-anticipated fixture at the Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor could perhaps come too soon for the 31-year-old, who has been limited to just two appearances since he suffered a foot injury back in December. After returning briefly to first-team action towards the end of last season as a substitute against Coventry and then Stoke, the former Cardiff and Oxford United forward underwent surgery for a problematic groin issue once the Blues’ Championship safety was secured in April. The timing of that operation has led to a carefully choreographed workload for the talismanic Pompey player, who is yet to feature for Mousinho in pre-season. And while efforts were being made to give Murphy a run-out against today’s 2. Bundesliga hosts, next Saturday’s Carabao Cup first-round tie against West Ham had always been earmarked for the winger’s most-likely and much-anticipated return. Speaking to The News last weekend following the pre-season defeat to Wycombe, Mousinho said there was every chance he would resist the ‘temptation’ of handing Murphy a comeback against Darmstadt. ‘Murph is all right,’ he said. ‘He’s been training since last week, so we’re building him up. We’ll see how he is in terms of that reaction to training. ‘I know he came back at the back end of last season, but that was more of an emergency if we needed him. ‘Apart from that, he has been out since December 20, 2025, so we’ve got to be a bit careful with him. Although he’s been in and out of training for the last couple of weeks. ‘We will look at Germany, the temptation is to stick him back in, but we don’t want to rush him too much.’ There was always a chance Darmstadt fixture would come too soon There is, of course, a possibility that Murphy has suffered an unreported setback since Mousinho last spoke to the media. After all, Marlon Pack has travelled with the rest of the first team despite his unavailability due to a knee injury. Speaking to The News from the team’s pre-season training camp in Ireland last month, the 2024-25 player of the year always had the game against the Hammers at the London Stadium in his sights. There was hope of a quicker return. But with Pompey keen not to rush him back, there was always a chance the Darmstadt fixture would be bypassed. Murphy said: ‘I’m dropping in and out of training at the moment, so I’m nearly back in full-team training. ‘Then, come the back of pre-season I’ll be back into games. Then, all things being well, I should be available for the West Ham game.’ Murphy has featured 58 times for Pompey since his free-transfer move from the U’s in the summer of 2024. He’s scored seven goals and registered 21 assists for the Blues.