Lets tie him down eh!

To say that I am a Matty Ritchie fan would be an understatement; I think we all know that.

Perhaps it is my desperation for more local talent to come through that sees me rate him as highly as I do, although to be fair he does posses the kind of talent that does make me think that with a little more work on various aspects of his game.

Recently Steve Cotterill had been saying that he wanted to tie him, and Nadir Ciftci, down to a new contract before loaning him out - well the loaning part has happened but still, as yet, no contract has been signed and this is despite talks about a new one being offered to him as far back as the summer...

Matty has made no secret of the fact that he is happy to have gone out on loan again - and again this is something that Cotterill had said he had asked about doing if he was not going to be involved in the 1st team at Fratton as much as he would have liked - and by all accounts had a 'decent' game for Swindon this week.

There is always the concern that a player will decide he wants to move on when he goes out on loan, although this is not something that he wants and has again stressed that as much as he wants to play 1st team football with Swindon he is doing this in the hope of improving his game a little before returning to Pompey again and fighting for a regular place - whatever though extending his contract is something that he is keen on doing.

The guy has a good attitude and his commitment and desire to want to play for Pompey cannot be doubted - at times you could see what Cotterill was saying about him, as he does seem a little lightweight at times and that inexperience can show but he still has the raw talent to be successful so all being well a successful loan with Swindon for the next month or so will be the final push and then see him really in contention for more than the odd 5 or 10 minutes here and there.

Months can pass by quickly so we have to make sure that we are not leaving it too long before this contract is tied up because as much as he might not want to leave the longer it goes without this contract being presented the less he might feel he is actually wanted and a love and desire to play for his hometown club counts for nothing without a contract in place!

This is your chance to impress Matty, make sure you do and the rest 'should' then take care of itself...

PLAY UP POMPEY!

Click here to make your prediction: Pompey v Watford.