Town boss Kieran McKenna expects loan striker Dane Scarlett to be recalled by his parent club Tottenham Hotspur.
Scarlett, 19, was left out of the Blues’ 20-man squad for this afternoon’s game at Leeds and McKenna says he expects the young frontman to return to North London once the January transfer window opens.
"There’s conversations with Tottenham at the moment,” McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk. "I think it looks very likely that he’ll be recalled. Tottenham have injury issues at the moment and they have their main forward [Son Heung-min] going to the Asian Cup at the start of January as well.
"So there have been discussions over the last few days and there’s a fair chance that he’ll be recalled from the start of January.”
Scarlett has made only 12 substitute appearances for the Blues since signing on loan for the season in August. He missed out on the chance to start in the Carabao Cup having played for Spurs prior to his switch.
"He’s a really talented player, we enjoyed having him here,” McKenna added. "He arrived really late in the window after a disrupted pre-season not having played any minutes, so he was always going to be playing catch-up.
"The players who have been playing have been doing so, so well, so he hasn’t had as many starts as he would have liked.
"But he’s made 12 appearances at the very top end of the Championship. He’s had some good contributions for us. I think he’s taken a lot away, hopefully, from the environment and his time at the club and I think he goes back a stronger player and we hope to see good things from him in the future.”
Asked whether Scarlett’s likely exit makes adding a striker in January a more urgent requirement, McKenna added: "We want to improve the squad anyway in numerous different positions if we possibly can. With Dane leaving, that certainly makes that a little bit higher on the priority list. We’ll do what work we can with the resources we have.”
Having played for two sides already this season, Scarlett will be unable to join anyone else on loan during January.