Liam Manning has confirmed that Bristol City don’t intend to recall any of Jamie Knight-Lebel, Seb Palmer-Houlden or Josh Stokes from their loan spells during the January transfer window.
All three players departed Ashton Gate on a temporary basis during the summer transfer window. Knight-Lebel joined Crewe Alexandra in League Two, Palmer-Houlden linked up with Dundee in the Scottish Premiership and Stokes moved to Cambridge United in League One.
Before the chaotic festive period which saw the Robins play five games in just over two weeks, Manning admitted that some loanees could return to the West Country when the transfer window reopened this month. So far though, the movement has been minimal.
With all three players, particularly Knight-Lebel, thriving away from the High Performance Centre, the City head coach doesn’t want to risk derailing their development and therefore currently plans for them to remain with their clubs beyond the end of January.
“Not at the minute, it’s fairly stable,” Manning replied when asked if there were plans for any of the players to cut their loan spells short currently. “Jamie’s doing terrifically well and that’s a big part of developing players. You can have them in the team and put them in the team but some players need to go on a different journey, which doesn’t mean they’re not going to progress at this football club.
“Jamie obviously had a terrific taste with us in the FA Cup, coming on at right wing-back away to Nottingham Forest was great exposure for him. You then get to a stage, especially in certain positions, where Jamie needs to go and build a CV, get beaten up a little bit, understand how to step up and he’s done terrifically well. Obviously, he got himself in the full national squad for Canada and he’s someone that’s improving all the time.
“Sometimes you can derail that rather than give them a real solid, strong season to come back in pre-season and hit the ground running here.”
One player who has already returned to Ashton Gate this month is Ephraim Yeboah. The young forward joined Doncaster Rovers on loan last summer but was unable to hold down a consistent place in Grant McCann’s team, only starting a single League Two game before his move was cut short late in December.
Since then, the 18-year-old has featured regularly for the Reds under-21s and has been linked with further loan moves away from Bristol City. However, after a frustrating spell in League Two, Manning is keen for the forward to continue his development so that he can get closer to the City first team.
Bristol City Live on Whatsapp
Join Bristol City Live’s Whatsapp community for all the biggest Bristol City stories sent straight to your phone
Bristol City Live is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community.
Through the app, we’ll send the Bristol City news, live match coverage, team news, transfers, fixtures, analysis and more straight to your phone.
To join our community you need to already have WhatsApp. All you need to do is click this link and select ‘Join Community’.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Bristol Live team.
We also treat community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out at any time you like.
To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose ‘Exit group’.
If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
“He obviously didn’t get the minutes that he would have wanted to at Doncaster,” explained the Robins head coach. “I’m actually seeing him this afternoon and I had a quick chat with him yesterday.
“He’s one that we’re quite clear about, he’s still so young, he’s experienced a lot so young, he still needs a huge amount of work which knowing him, his attitude and his application, he’ll come in and do his very, very best. It’s about now, brushing up on the areas that are going to help him get in and around the first team. He’s actually out this afternoon doing extra sessions with a small group that we’re running.”
Whether or not Yeboah will be included in City’s matchday squad when they welcome Wolves to Ashton Gate this Saturday for their first FA Cup game of the season remains to be seen.
With Sinclair Armstrong still not ready to feature, Manning is slightly short of attacking options so it is not out of the question that the teenager could sneak onto the bench.