Sammy Silvera sets his goals as he completes his loan move from Middlesbrough to Portsmouth

Sammy Silvera is hoping he can help Portsmouth achieve their goals of establishing themselves in the Championship while playing regularly and improving as a player individually, as he completed his loan move from Middlesbrough to Portsmouth.

Silvera will spend the season on loan at Fratton Park, with Boro hoping he can gain more experience and grow as a Championship player by playing regularly for the newly-promoted outfit. Having signed Delano Burgzorg to boost forward options this summer, the 24-year-old would have struggled for game time at the Riverside.

In his first year at Boro last term after joining from Central Coast Mariners, he managed six goals and three assists. Boro will be monitoring Silvera's development at Fratton Park closely and will make a decision on his longer-term future based on his performances this term, with 12 months remaining on his Boro contract when he returns.

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Setting out his ambitions for the season with a team-first mentality, Silvera said in his first Pompey interview: “The club has come from League One and the ambition is to go higher. It’s a massive club with a huge culture around it. I want to help the team become a consistent Championship team and perhaps maybe even push for higher. That’s the goal.

“The chats with the manager have been brief so far but they centred around me as an individual improving. I’m hoping I can add more goals and assists to my game and help players like [Kusini] Yengi score more goals.

“I feel like this is a place where I can do that under them. That’s very important for me. But the most important thing is the group and working together. Everyone is part of the team and we’ll be working together as a team to achieve bigger and better things.

“I’m thrilled to be here. It’s a long journey down from the other side of the country, but I’m really happy to be here. I spoke to a lot of people who spoke really highly about the club, so just can’t wait to get started. I hope I can bring some excitement for the fans."

Signed by Boro 12 months ago from Central Coast Mariners after guiding them to the A-League Championship, the forward was described as a low-risk gamble for Boro. Michael Carrick has described himself as 'excited' by his potential, though it's fair to say he was raw last term and inconsistent.

Reflecting personally on his first year in England, Silvera continued: “It’s been cold! It has been harder - away from the football I was getting used to living in a new area. On the pitch, it’s the demand of playing 46 games a season, and that’s not including cup games. So it is a bit of a difference to the A-League where you play 26 games.

“But it was good. I was able to play a decent amount of game time, especially as someone first coming from the A-League. So I feel like I’ve had a good adaption to that and hopefully now I can continue on and bring more consistency into my game and improve."