Portsmouth defender Linvoy Primus believes former teammate Gary O'Neil can break into the England squad following his move to Middlesbrough.

He said: "The England set-up want to see what Gary can do and I think that's what's going to happen at Middlesbrough. I don't think he'd gone stale at Pompey, I just think that he knew what he could do, what he was capable of doing and sometimes you want a fresh challenge to see if you can go on any more.

"It came to a stage where he knew exactly what he was going to do. He's going to an environment where he knows who the players are but you know they want to see what you can do. I think he can get into the England team playing in a different scene, I really do.

"Imagine they finish in the top half of the table, seventh or eighth, if he's a big part of it it's obviously going to get him the attention. But if he'd have done that for us, there are another few players at the club who would be given that credit.

"I think it would be good and I can easily see him being involved in the international set-up."