Yeovil Town manager Gary Johnson has said that he will consider moving into the loan market again, if current injuries to Dean Parrett and Joe Edwards continue to cause him headaches. Parrett, who sustained knee and ankle ligament injuries on Saturday that caused him to return to Tottenham Hotspur for a scan earlier today. He is due back for another visit to the Spurs medical team tomorrow (Tuesday) to determine how long he is likely to be out for.
The early prognosis after Saturday's match was that Parrett would be missing for around a fortnight, and with Edwards having ended his loan at Huish Park and returned to Bristol City, the Glovers are temporarily down to three loan players on their books. Johnson has been reluctant to increase his loan quota above five players, because of the problems that presents in terms of matchday squad selection. However, he told BBC Somerset that if the two players continued to be absent that he would consider looking at fresh blood:
"I'm sure we would, but let's wait and see what the assessment is. I'll have a chat with Terry and the other lads and we'll have a look and see who we've got on our list. Joe Edwards is still not quite right yet. He's not going to train actually until Thursday, at the earliest. So we've got to wait until then, just to see if he might or might not be available. We've got a long list (of alternative loan players), and yes we're okay with that. If we need to bring one in, then that's what we'll have to do. But obviously Dominic Blizzard is coming back now. He's available and fit, so we'll have to have a good look at it when we know all the facts."
There have been early unconfirmed signs that the Glovers may be looking towards Middlesbrough for alternatives in the loan market. Unconfirmed rumours on Twitter have pointed towards Jonathan Grounds and Jonathan Franks as being targets - although it should be stressed that neither player has been mentioned in the general media yet.
Both are products of the Championship side's academy system. Franks is a right-winger who can also play up front. Born on April 8th 1990, in Stockton-on-Tees, he has represented England at Under-16, Under-17, Under-18 and Under-19 level, as well as making 30 appearances for Boro's first team. He had a short loan spell with Oxford United earlier this season that was aborted due to a shoulder injury.
Grounds is the more experienced of the two, and is a 24 year old left-back, who can also play as a centre-back. Born in Thornaby-on-Tees on February 2nd 1988, he has made 37 appearances for Boro's first team, and has also had loan spells with Norwich City and Hibernian. Earlier this season, he had a 16 game loan spell with Chesterfield, although he missed the match against the Glovers last November at the B2Net Stadium.
It may be that Johnson is merely trialling both players, rather than taking them on loan at this stage, but with neither having featured for Boro's first team this season, and both having had loan spells recently at this level, they certainly fall into the 'available' category. However, as yet nothing concrete has turned up on this yet.
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20 February 2012 : 
