The South Korean international has totalled just 29 minutes of league football since leaving Fratton Park
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John Mousinho has every sympathy for Spurs over their ill-fated decision to send Minhyeok Yang to Coventry - despite the winger not making the Sky Blues’ last 12 squads.
Frustratingly, the Premier League club cancelled the winger’s Fratton Park loan spell in January, preferring to instead send him out to Frank Lampard’s table-toppers.
He has subsequently totalled just 29 minutes of Championship football, with his three league outings all coming off the bench during their magnificent charge to the Premier League.
Indeed, Minhyeok hasn’t featured since February 7, when he was an 89th-minute substitute in a goalless draw with 10-man Oxford United - and is unlikely to face Pompey on Tuesday night (7.45pm).
But Mousinho has sympathy with Spurs and the 20-year-old South Korea international.
‘It happens sometimes’
He told The News: ‘It was obviously a decision where Tottenham wanted to get Minhyeok into the best side in the league - and I had no issue with that.
‘They have some very, very good wingers at Coventry. If you look at those who have played for the majority of the season, you’ve got Ephron Mason-Clark and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto. Behind them are Brandon Thomas-Asante and Romain Esse, they signed Jahnoah Markelo in January and Jack Rudoni has played out there a little.
‘Then they signed Minhyeok. It’s a tough, tough ask to go into a side which is top of the league.
‘He did very, very well here, he’s a good player and will have a good career. He got three goals, a couple of assists, he scored in that really memorable win against Charlton.
‘For a young lad, we thought he was having a very good loan in terms of that exposure and the ups and downs of what it’s like in the Championship, especially for a struggling side. So I was really pleased with his contribution.
‘Him leaving was a combination of having the opportunity to go to Coventry, while towards the back of Minhyeok’s loan here, he hadn’t played a huge amount either. Against Bristol City on New Year’s Day, he was an unused substitute, so you can understand Spurs wanting to get their players a bit more playing time.
‘He hasn’t played much for Coventry, but they would have made that decision without thinking that was going to be the case, it happens sometimes.
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‘We have brought in loan players who we thought were going to play a lot of minutes and it didn’t pan out for whatever reason. Kaide Gordon is a good example of that last year.
‘You make the decisions as best as you can at the time and Tottenham would have done that. Maybe it has still been fantastic exposure because Minhyeok has been part of a side which is probably going to win the Championship.’
As a consequence of Minhyeok’s January departure, the Blues faced a winger shortage ahead of their trip to Sheffield Wednesday.
Mousinho lost Harvey Blair (hip flexor) and Franco Umeh (hamstring) during the FA Cup defeat to Arsenal, joining Josh Murphy and Florian Bianchini in the treatment room.
Urgently needing to bolster their wing options, Pompey recruited Milli Alli from Luton on loan for the remainder of the season, having fallen out of favour at the League One club.
And, by the end of the window, Keshi Anderson and Gustavo Caballero had also arrived at Fratton Park.
Mousinho added: ‘We had that miniature crisis in January where, at one point, we just didn’t have any wingers at all.
‘Post-Arsenal, we had Minhyeok recalled, Franco and Harvey injured, Murphy injured, Flo injured, we didn’t have any other wingers available.
‘Then we signed Milli in the build up to Sheffield Wednesday, he was the only one we had on the pitch at the time. I know Segs has played there - and he has done very well there - but Segs isn’t a winger.
‘So we had a difficult spot in January, we had to think fast. We recruited Milli and Keshi, who have had a big impact.
‘Then, at the back end of the window, when we didn’t necessarily have that strength in depth because of Murphy's injury, we decided to take Gus as well.’