Denver Hume has revealed a desire for first-team football and a need to 'enjoy' his football led to his exit from Sunderland.
The Black Cats' academy graduate spent 13 years on Wearside, but agreed a move to League One rivals Portsmouth for an undisclosed fee on Wednesday.
Hume made 82 appearances for the club and scored three goals, but a protracted contract saga last summer was the beginning of the end for his time at the Stadium of Light.
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The wing-back agreed a two-year deal in September, by which point Lee Johnson had recruited Dennis Cirkin and Niall Huggins.
Injuries further limited Hume's playing opportunities, and the 23-year-old only made four subsitute appearances in League One in his final season in red-and-white.
The defender insists he has a 'lot of good memories' from his lengthy stint at Sunderland, but indicated he had grown disillusioned at the club during his final months.
Hume told Portsmouth's club's website: "I was there a very long time. I really enjoyed my time there as well, had a lot of good memories there coming up through the academy and all of the different age groups.
"But I just think this is a good opportunity now for me to kick on and get back to playing and enjoying my football."
Rumours of Portsmouth's interest in Hume emerged last week, prompting Johnson to declare the full-back was in a 'good place' and was ready to step into his starting eleven.
It was a conversation with Pompey boss Danny Cowley which convinced the defender to swap the North East for a fresh start on the south coast.
When asked about Portsmouth's interest, Hume added: "It was probably a couple of weeks ago now. I heard there was interest, I didn't know how concrete that was so I kind of carried on as normal.
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"Then it kind of started to get stronger and stronger, and I spoke to the manager at some point last week.
"He expressed he wanted me here and he wanted me to come and play, so from that point my mind was kind of made up to come here and play."
