Portsmouth are set to release teenage striker Bradley Lethbridge at the end of the season, a report from The Portsmouth News has revealed.

Lethbridge put pen to paper on a new 12-month scholarship deal with the club last summer, having impressed in Pompey's academy team on a similar deal over the past two years.

Over the course of his time at Fratton Park, Lethbridge has made three appearances for the club's first-team - all of which have come in the EFL Trophy - with the striker scoring once in a 2-2 draw with Oxford.

As well as those outing for Portsmouth, Lethbridge has also enjoyed two encouraging loan spells with Bognor over the past two seasons, scoring 20 goals in 71 games for the Welsh-based club.

However, Lethbridge has been hampered by injury problems recently, with have put something of a brake on his progress, and as a result, the latest reports have now claimed that the League One promotion chasers have elected not to offer the striker a new deal at the club.

It is thought that Lethbridge has been made aware of the decision by Pompey, and the teenager will now leave the club when his deal runs out at the end of the season.

The Verdict

This does seem slightly surprising to me.

Lethbridge's record during his short senior career so far does look to be an encouraging one, so it seems strange for Portsmouth to apparently throw the towel in on him so early, given the potential he appears to possess.

However, the timing of this does at least mean that Lethbridge now has an opportunity to start searching for a club before he is out of the door at Portsmouth, and his record in the game so far means you feel he will at least have offers on the table at some level.