Danny Cowley has revealed that Portsmouth midfielder Ryan Tunnicliffe may still have a future at Fratton Park, whilst in conversation with The News.
The 29-year-old has been restricted to just two league appearances this season with competition levels within the Portsmouth midfield managing to reach new heights.
Tunnicliffe was linked to moves away during the summer, with AFC Wimbledon mentioned in association with the 29-year-old, whilst there had been murmurs about a potential move to Australia.
Sharing his thoughts on the Pompey midfielder, and addressing what the future may look like for him, Danny Cowley told The News: "Will Ryan stay? I think anything is possible, you never know. I’ve lived football long enough to know to expect the unexpected.
"We hope so because we are light in that area and have Tom Lowery injured and Louis Thompson with a broken leg.
"Ryan has trained well, he played 75 minutes in the friendly against Chelsea the other Friday, he’ll get some more minutes on Tuesday night in the Papa John’s Trophy, and I think this is all positive.
"We are light in there at the moment and we needed him (on Saturday) – and he did fine.
"Joe Morrell picked up something from the Welsh camp, some kind of flu, and nearly missed the game. He suffers from asthma, so it’s a kind of double whammy in those situations.
"Ryan replaced him, while Jay Mingi suffers from a thing called compartment syndrome and was suffering in the warm-up.
"He’s a very powerful boy and his shins fill up with blood, so he has this feeling of pressure which makes it very uncomfortable."
The verdict
Given the options Cowley has had available to him, it is no surprise to see that Tunnicliffe's minutes on the pitch has taken a hit.
Of course, that is not a dig at the midfielder himself, instead, it is an indication of the kind of quality that Cowley has at his disposal when all options are available.
When opportunities like the one on Saturday come, then if he is hoping to remain at Fratton Park, he needs to return a strong performance.
Who knows how many more of these chances will be presented to him as the season progresses, with Pompey battling hard at the top-end of the division.