Portsmouth are now just four days away from the season commencing, with a trip to Fleetwood kicking off proceedings on Saturday afternoon.

Danny Cowley's side have enjoyed a successful pre-season campaign, beating a Championship club, and drawing with another two in the higher division. 

As ever, expectation levels will be high for the upcoming campaign on the south coast, with promotion seen as the collective and ultimate objective amongst fans. 

In preparation for the season ahead, Danny Cowley is still casting his eyes over players, with the latest being former Newcastle United defender Ludwig Francillette. 

According to Jonty Colman of Hampshire Live via Twitter, the young, French centre-back started in today's friendly against Bournemouth. 

The 22-year-old was released by the Premier League club in early June and has been working to get himself a deal elsewhere ever since. 

The young defender joined Newcastle in 2019, to initially join the club's U23 set up, however, Francillette was unable to pave his way into the club's first-team and was subsequently released. 

The verdict

This has the potential to be an exciting signing if Portsmouth want to pursue a deal. The young defender is obviously talented enough with Newcastle recruiting him as recently as late 2019.

Portsmouth are seemingly a tad light in defensive positions at present, and the arrival of a young, talented, and hungry defender would certainly bolster Danny Cowley's defensive options. 

He will have to seriously impress the south coast club to earn himself a deal, Pompey have let several trialists go this summer, after failing to win over Cowley.