Blues winger Kyle Edwards wants to move on to a club where he can start more games, manager Kieran McKenna has revealed.
News that Edwards is set to move on had been expected after the 25-year-old was left out of the 20-man squad for the Carabao Cup tie with Bristol Rovers in midweek.
The former West Brom man has never been able to secure a regular spot in the Town side since signing on a free transfer after leaving the Baggies in the summer of 2021. In the league, he has made 14 starts and 36 sub appearances, scoring three times.
"Kyle is someone we’ve had conversations with at the end of last season,” McKenna said. "We both agreed that he is at the stage in his career where he wants to go and start a few more games.
"He needs to become a more regular starter. He has been a really important player for us and certainly as an impact player role last year.
"But he now wants to go and start more games and build his career and he’s at the age where he wants to do that – whether a loan move or a permanent transfer.
"He's had some interest but nothing that’s been right for him yet. So he is training with the group, he’s had a really good pre-season, and he is available for the games and the squad.
"Just with the Carabao Cup, to be honest, it was a decision to help Kyle as what we don’t want to do is tie him for the season for the sake of an appearance in that competition, where you can only play for two clubs over the course of a season.
"If he played some minutes the other night, that would possibly limit him with regards to loan moves or maybe a permanent move in this window or the next window.
"We made that decision with him that for the Carabao Cup, so he keeps his eligibility until the end of the window. And then after that, we will see.
"He is with the group, he is training well, he is an asset to us. If he stays here, he will be with the group. And if he has an opportunity to go and play, which is what he wishes to do, that is something we will look at.”
Edwards was the subject of interest from a number of clubs, believed to include Hull City and Swansea, in January but with the Blues then keen to keep hold of the former U16, U17 and U20 international for the run-in.
Anyone else with whom similar conversations have been had? "I won’t go into every single situation but we have a big squad. We want to keep a big squad as it is going to be a long and physical season.
"But we want everyone to feel they are competing for starts or are close to starts. There are different players in the squad whose situation we have discussed and will assess.
"There are three weeks left in the transfer window so it is not impossible that one or two might look at opportunities elsewhere.
"But on the other hand, we are happy with the squad. We want to have a big squad, we want two for each position, and that’s a strength we had and utilised last season.
"It was really important for us in the first half of the season when we had a lot of injuries and that’s how we want to go into this season as well.”