Jonas Knudsen may have been at the World Cup but manager Paul Hurst has told the Danish international he has to show him he’s worth a place in his team when Blackburn Rovers visit on the opening day with Myles Kenlock having impressed at left-back in the former Esbjerg fB man’s absence. The 21-year-old was the scorer of the only goal in Saturday’s 1-0 win at Barnet.
Knudsen, who made one appearance for Denmark in Russia in the round-of-16 penalties defeat to Croatia, returns to the club today following his post-finals break.
Hurst says it will be good to have the 25-year-old back but says it’s by no means a fait accompli that Knudsen will go straight into his first XI.
"Yes, but obviously with Myles Kenlock there’s competition there,” he said. "He did very well to get his goal.
"A goal from a left-back’s nice, it’s not the be-all and end-all to his performance, of course, but Myles has done OK since I’ve been at the club and I think he’s kind of stepped up in terms of trying to come out, in terms of personality as well. Another young player.
"Jonas isn’t going to come back and just walk into the team. I said that when we agreed on the date for him to come back in and he’s got to really hit the ground running to really come into my thoughts for the Blackburn game.”
Having appeared on football’s biggest stage it would be little surprise if Knudsen had attracted some interest, particularly with only a year remaining on his contract, however, Hurst says he’s not aware of anyone making an approach..
"Not to my knowledge, at this present time there isn’t,” he added. "I find it a bit different because, not so much where I was last season, but before that I was used to players’ contracts just running out and then them having to wait to see the manager a couple of days later.
"I understand the higher you go that as soon as anyone’s getting close to their last year people are talking and you’re trying to set new deals up.
"But Jonas, yes he was on the world stage, but for me, and we’ve had this conversation so I’m not saying anything that’s going to be news to him, he hasn’t done anything for me yet.
"I’ve seen some games but I haven’t seen him close up so he has to earn my faith and check that everything about him is what I’m after before we think about a new deal. Realistically, if anything happens before that, then all parties will have to look at it.
"That’s my thoughts and feelings. He can’t sign anywhere else until January, if that were the case, and by that time I’m sure I will have looked at it and assessed the situation.”