Boss Mick McCarthy says there’s no chance that midfielder Anthony Wordsworth will go out on loan while Luke Hyam is out injured. Hyam is set to be sidelined for around three weeks with the gash on his leg he suffered in the early stages at Millwall last week.
"There’s no chance at the moment. I can’t do it,” said the Blues boss, who has previously said that the ex-Colchester man needs to get games under his belt.
"I’ve got Luke Hyam injured, so that would just be crazy. Letting Woody out without finding a replacement for him, that’s not going to happen.
"I want him to work hard and get himself fit, and to be fair to him he’s doing that. He’s been in morning and afternoon this week trying to get his fitness back having had a really bad dose of tonsillitis. He needs to get fit and push for a position, and we’ve lost one, so there’s no better time.”
One possibility, if McCarthy does decide to send Wordsworth out on loan, is that he could bring in someone on loan as cover with Arsenal’s Emmanuel Frimpong continuing to be linked.
The Town manager, who is also understood to have Middlesbrough’s Frazer Richardson signing on loan early next week, says it’s not always easy doing business in the January transfer window.
"It is tough because we’re all trying to improve our teams, some trying to stay up, some trying to get up,” he said.
"I would think that every manager’s got some position he’d like to strengthen and they have a look at it and try and do it.
"But they’re only going to do it providing they don’t weaken it somewhere else. They might want to get one in and get one out, but if they can’t get the one out, it’s not going to happen.
"What they aren’t going to do is let one go before they get one in. There’s a bit of brinksmanship with everybody else, it’s making sure you don’t leave yourself short.”
Meanwhile, McCarthy confirmed that free agent former Blue Titus Bramble is again training with the Town squad: "He’s training with us. He’s been recovering from injury. He comes in most days. I don’t think anybody’s trying to hide it and I’ll let him train with us when he’s fit.
"He’s good around the place, I think he’s been good to the academy and I’m more than happy to let him train here.
"He’s had a bit of treatment on his knee and ankle, but he’s fine. He was out with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake yesterday just doing a bit of running. We’d like to help him get back fit.”