Manny Longelo was dropped from Birmingham City’s starting line-up at Bristol City, with Blues boss John Eustace claiming the West Ham United loanee’s performances have dipped a little bit recently.
The full-back has been a regular starter for the Championship side since returning from an ankle injury that ruled him out for four games following his arrival at St Andrew’s. Longelo has started 15 of Birmingham’s last 16 games, but was surprisingly omitted from the matchday squad entirely for the trip to Bristol City on Saturday.
But Longelo’s absence may have largely been down to the EFL rule that restricts clubs from naming only a maximum of five loan players in their matchday squad. Birmingham currently have six players on loan at the club and Eustace says it is a problem he has to work around.
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When asked about the decision to drop Longelo, Eustace told Birmingham Live: “Yeah, I have spoken to Manny [Longelo]. I think Manny’s performances have dropped a little bit over the last few weeks so he needed to come out of the team a little bit anyway.
“It is going to be a bit of a problem trying to rotate the six loans around but that’s where we are at the moment, it’s going to be something we have to get on with. I thought Jordan [Graham] played well, came in at left wing back, created and defended well, there are no issues.”
Longelo has contributed one goal and two assists during his loan spell with Birmingham, who are currently 18th in the Championship after 27 matches. The 22-year-old Hammers academy graduate has featured twice for the Irons senior side, playing a full 90 minutes in a Europa League group game against Dinamo Zagreb last season and coming on as a substitute to make his first-team debut in a Carabao Cup clash against Hull City a year earlier.
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