Summer signing Adam Webster says he’s fit and ready to play if selected by manager Mick McCarthy for next Saturday’s opening Championship fixture at home to Barnsley. The 21-year-old joined Town for £700,000 plus Matt Clarke early in the summer while suffering with an ankle injury he had picked up towards the end of Pompey’s League Two campaign.
"The ankle’s really good, it’s held up really well,” Webster said. "I haven’t had any real setbacks, everything’s gone quite smoothly, thank God. The fitness is pretty much there now.”
Fit enough to start against the Tykes next Saturday? "That’s the manager’s decision but I’m raring to go.”
The West Wittering-born defender is aware that Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra have been the established centre-halves for the last few seasons.
"It’s always good to have good competition for places, it’s healthy for the team,” he said. "They’re two very experienced players, who I can learn a lot from. It’ll be good for me to improve as a player.”
Webster says he already feels at home at Portman Road: "I’ve settled in really well, the boys and the staff have been really good with me and I’m looking forward to the start of the season.
"The gaffer’s shown a lot of faith in me bringing me in, especially as I was injured at the time. Hopefully I can repay that faith this season.”
Reflecting on Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Belgian second division side Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, the central defender says that despite the scoreline there were positives to be taken from the match.
"We’re a bit gutted about the result, you always want to win games and take that into the season, but there are a lot of positives to take from the performance, especially the first half and probably the first 60 or 65 minutes of the game. We were disappointed with the goals.”
He added: "We largely dominated the game, which is why we’re disappointed that we lost it in the manner we did.
"But we can take that into next week, look at a few things we need to improve on and take the positives.”
After the game manager Mick McCarthy said pre-season games are never played at the intensity of competitive fixtures and his record Town signing says that is something he notices during friendlies.
"Occasionally, sometimes you think things would be done a little bit differently if there were three points riding on it,” he continued.
"But we’re finished with pre-season now and we’re just looking forward to getting under way next week.”
If he plays against Barnsley it won’t be Webster’s Championship debut as he made three brief sub appearances for Portsmouth in January and February 2012.
"I made my debut in the Championship and actually came on against Ipswich for a couple of minutes,” he recalled.
"I had a little taste of it back then, but nothing like, hopefully, what will happen this season.”
Is there a huge gulf between the Championship and League Two? "It’s a massive leap. With the quality in the Championship you’re going to get punished if you slip up whereas in League Two you can get away with it a bit more.
"There are a lot of big clubs in the Championship, it’s a really tough league to get out of. We’re really looking forward to it and hopefully we can be up there.”
He says the difference in standard between the divisions is also noticeable in training.
"It took a bit of getting used to because of the tempo and the quality that’s there," he admitted.
"You’ve got to step up every day, you can’t afford to be having an off-day in training, you’ll get found out. It’s a been a challenge but hopefully I’ve done all right so far.”
Town fans first saw Webster in the FA Cup ties against Pompey in January when the Blues first looked to sign him. Was he aware of the interest at that stage? "A little bit but at the time I wasn’t really worried about that I was concentrating on my football so I didn’t take too much notice of that.”
Looking ahead to next weekend’s Championship opener, Webster believes Saturday’s defeat will have little bearing on the game: "It’ll be completely different come next Saturday. We’re gutted about the result but there were a lot of positives to take from the game.”