Promising Portsmouth youngster handed chance at Premier League new boys follow Fratton Park release and Millwall trial

Premier League new-boys Ipswich have been running the rule over recently released Pompey youngster Sam Folarin.

The teenage forward is currently on trial with the Portman Road outfit and featured for both their under-18s and under-21s this week.

His time with Kieran McKenna’s promotion-winners follows a similar stint at Championship Millwall, with whom he recently spent two weeks.

Folarin is on the look out for a new club after he was told he would not be handed fresh terms to continue his development at Fratton Park. The former Crystal Palace youngster was one of 10 second-year scholars informed they would not be retained at the end of the campaign following their graduation. 

That has seen the Republic of Ireland under-18 international look elsewhere to continue his football - and it’s resulted in Ipswich handing him a chance of proving the Blues wrong.

Folarin played 78 minutes for the Tractor Boys’ under-21s as they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday at Playford Road on Friday. That followed a goalscoring run-out for the under-18s on Tuesday, with the attacker on the mark in a 6-2 defeat at the hands of Charlton.

The youngster had been with Pompey since 2022, following his Crystal Palace release. He made his first-team debut in the Blues’ 2-1 win at Leyton Orient in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy in November, coming on as an 85th-minute substitute. Folarin scored six goals in 15 appearances for Pompey’s under-18s this season and spent a month on loan at non-league Bognor.

Ipswich secured their return to the Premier League with a 2-0 win against Huddersfield that guaranteed they finished second in the Championship table - a year after winning promotion from League One.