Hartlepool United head coach provides 'frustrating' update on attacker Anthony Mancini

The Frenchman has played just three times this year and hasn't featured since the emphatic win over Boston more than a month ago, when he aggravated a groin injury that has plagued him throughout the second half of this season.

The 24-year-old has endured another frustrating campaign as he continues to struggle with a succession of injuries. Given his undeniable talent, Pools fans can't help but wonder what he might be able to achieve with a clean bill of health but there are those who are beginning to run out of patience; Mancini has started just 18 games across the last two seasons.

Almost from the moment he arrived as an unassuming trialist in the summer of 2023, the former Burnley and Accrington Stanley man has played himself into the hearts of Pools fans. Mancini enjoyed an electric start to his Pools career and set the National League alight in the opening few weeks of last season, receiving a standing ovation from all four corners of Roots Hall following a spellbinding display against Southend and helping Pools to the summit of the table. He was in the process of bamboozling champions-elect Chesterfield at the end of August 2023, scoring one and creating another, when he sustained a serious hamstring injury that kept him out for more than four months. At the time Mancini's injury and Chesterfield's subsequent comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2 was seen as a turning point in the season as Pools struggled on their return to the National League. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, it also looks to have been a decisive moment in Mancini's Pools career.

Despite two abortive comeback attempts later in the season and one or two flashes of his brilliance, namely a stunning long range winner against Ebbsfleet, Mancini struggled to rediscover his best form and never truly looked fully fit as he finished his maiden Pools campaign with just 14 appearances to his name.

This term, Darren Sarll, Lennie Lawrence and Anthony Limbrick have all tried different ways of getting more out of Mancini. The Frenchman returned in pre-season having spent time recovering in his homeland and proclaimed "I'm free" after making it through the summer unscatched. Sarll's brusque and bullish approach - indeed, the straight-talking boss was positively bristling whenever Mancini's name was mentioned in interviews - seemed to spur the mercurial attacker on, although he was used sparingly. Lawrence tended to use him in bursts from the bench, while Limbrick has tried to give Mancini the chance to prove his fitness from the start.

Tantalisingly, Mancini's best performances seem to come just before he is struck down in full flow. He produced a match-winning performance against Oldham on New Year's Day, scoring the decisive goal in the second half, and then wasn't seen again for two-and-a-half months. Similarly, he bamboozled Boston on his first start since the Oldham game in mid-March but has not so much as featured in the squad since.

There will come a time when Pools will have to make a difficult decision over Mancini - and it could be as early as this summer. The Frenchman has so much talent and could surely play at a higher level if his body can build up some resilience, but reliability is key in football, especially at National League level where sides have to balance limited resources, and Mancini has proven himself temperamental in the extreme. At this stage, it looks unlikely that Pools fans will see Mancini again this season, with Limbrick admitting the current situation is frustrating for everyone involved.

"It seems like a long process with him - it's frustrating for him and frustrating for us," he said.

"He's not available and we want him to play, we want him to be involved.

"He's still working through that groin issue and doing little bits and pieces but he hasn't been able to train with the group, he's just been doing his own bits of rehab."

Your next Hartlepool United read: Pools head coach addresses threat of administration as takeover saga rumbles on