Town boss Mick McCarthy says he expects Ryan Tunnicliffe to return to Manchester United for at least some part of January once his loan spell with the Blues is up on December 31st. Yesterday, Red Devils boss David Moyes said he was considering bringing loanees such as the 20-year-old back to Old Trafford at the end of their half-season spells with Championship clubs.
"I think all the loanees at Manchester United generally go back in January and I think that’ll be the case again,” McCarthy said.
"And I don’t blame them. They want them to go back, they look at them, they assess them, they could play them all in the cup because none of them can be cup-tied.
"Tunners is probably one that that will happen to. If that’s the case, we will see. Let’s hope we can get him back.
"All they would do is assess him and if he’s not going to play in their team, then I’m sure they’d loan him out again. But we’ll see.”
McCarthy has been impressed with the Heywood-born midfielder, who has made 16 starts and four sub appearances for the Blues: "I think he’s been a really good signing for us, and I still think there’s more to come from him. I think he’s finally settled and playing in a team.
"He’s being picked in his central role now, although he did well on the left. I think he’s thriving. I think he’s getting better and I do think there’s much more to come from him.”
Is he capable of making the grade at Old Trafford? "I don’t work with a lot of Manchester United players, but he’s a very good player in this league at the moment,” McCarthy added. "But I don’t want to big him up too much because they might keep him when he goes back.”
McCarthy, who neither confirmed nor dismissed his reported interest in Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong last week, is likely to need to bring in a replacement for Tunnicliffe should he remain with his parent club for the second half of the season but at the moment he’s waiting to see how the situation pans out.
"We’ll wait and see what happens,” he said. "All I know is that I want him to be here. I can understand if they do take him back, that’s generally what they do, have a look at all their loanees. But they’re not going to keep them all.”
Meanwhile, Watford have been charged with failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and/or refrained from provocative behaviour by the FA following their reaction to the award of Town's penalty at Portman Road on Saturday.
Hornets' defender Gabriele Angella was adjudged to have handled Frank Nouble's cross from the left by referee Graham Scott. Swedish defender Joel Ekstrand was booked for his part in their protests.