JOSH MURPHY
PORTSMOUTH WINGER
DURING the fag end of a disappointing spell at Cardiff City, Josh Murphy didn’t even look like a Championship player.
Three years of modest returns followed by an aborted loan spell with Preston ensured an almost total absence of second-tier interest when the winger’s contract expired in the summer of 2022.
Yet two-and-a-half years on, Murphy has revived his career to such an extent that Portsmouth team-mate Matt Ritchie reckons the 30-yearold could star in the Premier League.
“Yeah, of course he could,” said the veteran wideman, who spent seven seasons in the top flight at Newcastle alongside Murphy’s twin brother, Jacob.
“I’ve had the joys of playing with his brother at that level and they are both unbelievable lads, first and foremost. If your son was to grow up like the Murphy brothers you’d be proud.
“But they are also guys with great work ethics and, as footballers, they have a huge amount of quality – and I mean both of them.”
The brothers – nephews of the former Ipswich player Tommy Parkin – came through the ranks at Norwich and made a combined total of 64 appearances in the 2016-17 Championship season, with Jacob netting nine goals and Josh four.
Those performances earned Jacob his move to Newcastle, before Cardiff – freshly promoted to the Premier League under Neil Warnock – paid a club-record fee of £11m to sign Josh 12 months later.
Rarely, though, was Murphy fully trusted in a Cardiff shirt. Under Warnock, he played the full 90 minutes on just eight occasions. Neil Harris and Mick McCarthy didn’t give him any. At Preston, he was dropped by Ryan Lowe for not maintaining “standards”, then shipped back to South Wales after 12 games.
All told, he scored ten goals in 88 league appearances for Cardiff, 50 of which were starts – and things didn’t get much better following a free transfer to Oxford. After an injury-hit 2022-23 -campaign, manager Liam Manning told Murphy that he was no longer part of the club’s plans.
“There was a time where I did think to myself, ‘Do I want to carry on playing football?’” Murphy admitted in an interview with the Mirror last year. “There was a lot of self-doubt, thinking ‘Am I good enough?’”
He was, but it took the departure of Manning and the arrival of Des Buckingham to finally kindle the blackened embers of Murphy’s self-belief.
Comeback
As the U’s charged to promotion from League One, Murphy bagged six goals and three assists in the final 15 games of the regular season, then capped his comeback by netting twice against Bolton in the play-off final at Wembley.
Subsequently signed by Pompey, Murphy has picked up where he left off, a tally of 17 goal contributions (seven goals, ten assists) ahead of the weekend’s fixtures placing him amongst the most productive players in the entire Championship.
Asked for the reason behind Murphy’s sudden improvement, Portsmouth boss John Mousinho said the wideman had “knuckled down”, which is certainly true. But in Buckingham and Mousinho, he has also played under managers who recognised – and played to – a simple, effective skill set.
Like his twin, Murphy is a throwback. He can – and does – drift inside effectively, but his primary strengths are his willingness to take on fullbacks and hit the byline, and his ability to deliver frequent, dangerous crosses.
No winger in the division has completed fewer passes per 90 minutes. Only a handful have had fewer touches. Murphy is no playmaker, and he won’t win physical duels or hold the ball up.
But in wide areas, he comes alive. With 6.66 per game, Murphy ranks in the top four per cent of Championship wide players for crosses attempted, and is top of the pile when it comes to actually finding a team-mate. He is also in the top five per cent for goal-creating actions, situations he predominantly engineers himself by blocking passes, pressing opponents and winning second balls high up the pitch.
By playing Murphy in a three-man frontline, keeping him pushed high up the pitch and using his pace to spring counter-attacks, both Buckingham and Mousinho have created an environment that exploits these qualities and has allowed the winger – finally – to thrive.
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