Former Oxford United skipper John Mousinho has spoken about speculation linking out-of-contract Josh Murphy to Portsmouth.

Oxford United and Portsmouth will both be playing their football in the Championship next season but the U’s could be without their Wembley hero Murphy.

The 29-year-old winger is reportedly sought after by a host of clubs following a dazzling end of the season which finished in style with two goals in United’s 2-0 play-off final win against Bolton Wanderers at Wembley. 

Murphy is out of contract with the U's and has been linked with clubs such as Sunderland, West Brom, Derby, QPR and Hull.

Now, Portsmouth manager Mousinho has spoken of his admiration for Murphy, whose future is still in the balance.

Speaking to the News, Mousinho said: “The truth on that is I know Josh, and he’s a fantastic player.

“He had a really good back end to the season but for those kind of players, whether there’s interest or not, we want to keep everything respectful of the players, other clubs and everything else going on.

“There are links with Josh because I played with him previously, but whether we’ve got any interest or not it’s something we have to leave alone and not really comment on.”