Portsmouth FC have struck gold with £5k-a-week star - He's flying right now | OneFootball

Josh Murphy has been an inspired signing for Portsmouth this season

Precious few signings across the Championship have proven to be more inspired than Josh Murphy's at Portsmouth, and the winger appears poised to guide the south coast side to survival this term.

Portsmouth undertook a rather mixed summer transfer window ahead of their long-awaited return to the Championship, having won promotion from League One as champions under John Mousinho last time out.

Led by a cost-effective, youth-emphasised approach to player recruitment, Pompey were busy by signing the likes of Abdoulaye Kamara, Harvey Blair, Jacob Farrell, Ibane Bowat, Elias Sorensen and Jordan Williams, as well as a number of loan acquisitions and more experienced pick-ups in Matt Ritchie and Jordan Archer.

The summer window yielded a mixed bag of success, but there's little denying Portsmouth struck gold with the signing of Murphy. Pompey were able to land the winger's signature on a free transfer after he rejected a new contract with Oxford United, whom he had freshly led to League One promotion via the play-offs by scoring both goals against Bolton Wanderers at Wembley.

Remarkably, Murphy is collecting a weekly wage of just £5,000 on his three-year contract with the club, if estimated figures listed by Capology are to be believed. That's a real snip for a player who has been one of the very best signings in the Championship and is now increasingly likely to direct Portsmouth to second-tier survival.

Josh Murphy's 24/25 Championship season at Portsmouth

Much like Pompey, the ex-Norwich City and Cardiff attacker took time to find his feet and truly get going this term. Injuries meant he had to wait until September to grace the Fratton Park pitch for the first time, and his goalscoring account was not opened until a 1-1 draw away to Hull City at the start of November.

By that time, though, Murphy had already shown fleeting signs of what was to come by bagging consecutive assists against Stoke City and Oxford.

That said, he truly hit lift-off heading into December - a goal and an assist apiece in outings against Swansea and Bristol City certainly went down well with former employers Cardiff, where he had spent four years between 2018 and 2022 after signing from Norwich in an £11 million deal.

Murphy returned to haunt Swans for a second occasion on New Year's Day by scoring and assisting in the 4-0 rout, and his rich vein of form has continued in 2025.

The 30-year-old has put in a string of dazzling displays; from running automatic promotion hopefuls Sheffield United ragged in a slender 2-1 defeat at Bramall Lane to setting up two goals at home to the Bluebirds and most recently scoring and assisting to inspire victory over QPR on the weekend, Murphy has been a consistent game-changer for Pompey.

His strike against the R's was something to behold, serving as the latest reminder of Murphy's own renaissance over the last 12 months or so.

The ex-England youth international had just lost his way before the second-half of last season but is now finding the finest form of his career and, at long last, finally appears to be living up to his promise.

It would not be a stretch to say Murphy has been one of the top wingers in the Championship this season. In 30 appearances, the winger has six strikes and nine assists from an xA of 6.2, with only two players in the division responsible for setting up more goals.

Indeed, only five players in Joel Piroe, Borja Sainz, Finn Azaz, Dan James and Josh Sargent - five of the best players in the Championship, many would argue - have accumulated a higher combined return of goals and assists than Murphy's 15.

A key creative outlet on the left-hand side, Murphy has also created the most big chances in the entire Championship with 14 and has completed 42 dribbles, leaving many an opposition full-back with twisted blood through his electric pace and dribbling ability.

Josh Murphy will likely keep Portsmouth FC in the Championship

While the vast majority of the division's outstanding performers have been star-turns in well-oiled machines towards the top end of the league ladder, Murphy's case is arguably more impressive as he has continually starred in a side that has struggled for much of the campaign.

Prior to the turn of the year, a swift return to League One looked a likely course of action as far as Portsmouth were concerned. However, Mousinho's side are now pulling away from any danger. They're placed 17th in the Championship and have a nine-point advantage over 22nd-placed Plymouth Argyle, having swiped points from relegation-threatened sides in Stoke and Cardiff in recent weeks.

The likes of Callum Lang and striker Colby Bishop, whom Murphy has worked up a near-telepathic on-pitch connection with, have both been key in their own respective rights. But nobody has managed to eclipse the importance of Murphy himself, with the fleet-footed forward directly accounting for more than a third of his side's 43 league goals.

Murphy has often been a 'moments player' throughout his career, with inconsistency a recurring theme during spells with Norwich and Cardiff.

His talent, though, and ability to exert a real sense of X-Factor has never been in doubt - Portsmouth are now the beneficiaries of that on a more consistent basis than we have ever previously seen and they will have to pay thanks when he seals their second-tier status for another season.