Canadian midfielder Jaime Peters's career with Town could be in doubt beyond the end of the season due to work permit issues. The 19-year-old's current permit is up in June and, with the player not currently in either the Town or Canada sides, gaining an extension could prove problematic.
Boss Jim Magilton told the club site: "We're aware of the work permit issue with Jaime and we'll just have to see how things go.
"He needs to keep working hard, but we also have Martin Brittain back in the squad now after his loan at Yeovil. He's been playing games and did well there and I want to give him the opportunity to show us what he can do."
It's not the first time that Peters has had problems gaining permission to play in the UK. Two years ago, after signing a pre-contract agreement with the Blues, the winger applied for a Commonwealth Working Holiday Visa (WHV).
However, the rules on WHVs were tightened soon after so that from February 8th 2005 holders were only entitled to work for one of their two years in the UK and were specifically banned from employment in professional sport.
This left Peters's application in a grey area, the player having applied in January 2005 for a visa which would not come into effect until his 18th birthday on May 4th that year, after the rule change took place. The club spent some time lobbying the Home Office, however, this ultimately ended in failure and the Blues had to seek another route.
Peters hadn't played the required 75% of international games with Canada over the previous two years and so failed to automatically win a permit on the Highly Skilled Migrant programme.
However, as with an earlier case involving Middlesbrough's Yakubu, Town appealed to an expert football tribunal which granted the Canadian his current permit after a July 2005 hearing in Sheffield.
Peters's Town contract also ends in June this year.