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Cardiff City manager Omer Riza believes Joel Colwill would be better served moving to a League One club in the new year after his stellar start to life with Cheltenham Town in League Two.
The Wales youth international has taken to the third tier like a duck to water and has been the standout loan player from the stable which left Cardiff in the summer.
He was nominated for the League Two player of the month and has been involved in nine goals – scoring six and assisting three – since he moved to the Gloucestershire club.
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There is a debate as to whether Colwill should be left at Cheltenham or brought back to the Welsh capital in the January window. However Riza has proffered a third option, moving him to a different loan club when the window opens.
“Joel has been excellent,” Riza said. “We are always keeping an eye on him and watching games, casting an eye, making sure we are talking to him. For Joel, it would be one of them, you bring him back, is he going to get many minutes ahead of the players we have already got in the building? With their experiences and the amount of midfielders we’ve got, it’d probably be difficult for him.
“He’d be one of those who would be bedded in slowly and that wouldn’t benefit his performances. I think playing in League Two and potentially stepping up another league to League One, to push him a little bit more, then he has a full season playing 40 games, comes back in next year and everything can be assessed after that.”
Asked whether it would be an option for him to move to a League One club next month, Riza said of Colwill: “Definitely. With his performances in League Two… well, for me, anyway, for him to go in at a higher level in League Two, one of the top teams, or even into a League One (team) would be what I feel is better for him at this time.”
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Ryan Wintle, who is currently on loan at Millwall, is another player who might benefit from Erol Bulut’s departure from Cardiff City. However, Riza believes the same driving force behind his loan exit in the summer might become an issue if he were to be recalled from the managerless Lions in the new year.
“Currently we have three, four, five midfielders in the building, granted there are a few injuries. Ryan Wintle is a good player. He has gone out on loan, he has played here a while and he has got good qualities.
“He plays in the six. The potential for that to happen could be there, but when Ryan left the building it’s because he wanted to play more football regularly and that could probably be a potential issue again if he came back in the building and that could bring frustrations with it.”
Meanwhile, Roko Simic’s future remains up in the air. Riza is set to hold talks with the club’s hierarchy imminently with regards to rubber-stamping the January strategy, with the Croatian’s nightmare stint in Belgium very much up for discussion. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.
“I’ve not spoken to him at all,” Riza said of Simic, who has played just four games and is currently out injured. “I’ve only seen clips of him, I don’t know much about him. I know he was bought as an investment as a young player. He looks like he’s had a tough time, but it looks like the manager change has happened now so that might change things for him, potentially.
“Looking forward to January and conversations will take place regarding all the players on loan. Nothing has been decided yet”