Oisin Smyth looks set for a loan move to a League Two side in January after Oxford United boss Karl Robinson provided an update on the midfielder.
The 22-year-old joined the U's from Dungannon Swifts on deadline day last January but has played only twice for the club.
A hamstring injury prevented Smyth from joining a Vanarama National League side on loan in October.
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Reports in the Oxford Mail say Robinson was quizzed on Smyth’s lack of minutes at a fans' forum and compared the former Swifts player to a fellow ex-Irish League star, Mark Sykes, who made the move to Oxford from Glenavon back in 2019.
“Oisin has been signed as an 18-month project, a little bit like Sykesy was,” Robinson.
“We got a little bit of criticism for him being in and out, and in the wilderness.
“By the end of it, the process worked.
“Oisin is still not where you’d expect with Lewis Bate, Cameron Brannagan, Marcus McGuane and people like James Henry – where he sits right now is behind that group.
“Oisin is still in a development phase, he’s been on trial with a League Two club this week because nobody knows of him.
“He’s gone to a League Two club to see if they want him in January, and ideally that would be the perfect plan for him – to go to League Two for the rest of the season.”
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