Rayhaan Tulloch, a West Brom academy graduate, has been reassured by manager Graham Alexander that he will get more playing time on loan at Bradford this season. However, Tulloch may return to The Hawthorns in January.
After switching up the formation, the manager acknowledged that Tulloch and fellow loanee Chisom Afoka were in a challenging situation, but he gave them the assurance that they would not be cut from the team.
The Yorkshire Post reports that Tulloch’s loan agreement has a break clause in January, so West Brom may decide to call him back if they believe neither party is getting anything from it.
Speaking to The Yorkshire Post [13 December], Alexander shared: “I had a chat with them 10 days to two weeks ago. I know it hasn’t gone how they hoped or planned. The change of formation might make it difficult for players in those positions to break through.
But the opportunity is there. I say every day is an opportunity for players. Sometimes, when players in general say they haven’t been given the opportunity, they train every single day.
“You’re training for your manager against your teammates. That’s an opportunity to go. ‘I can be on this team and help you win’.
“It’s the same with them. While players are signed with us, training fully fit, they always have that opportunity for me. I never banish players off to different teams or anything like that. I want to keep everyone together as much as we can.”
Tulloch has made just eight league appearances so far this season out of a possible 20, with only two of those eight coming from the start as he has struggled to make his mark at the Yorkshire club.
At 22 years old, the promise Tulloch had once shown at The Hawthorns does not look like it will appear again, and having struggled for regular appearances on loan in League Two, any resurgence into the Baggies first-team in the future looks like a distant hope.
The most reasonable, and perhaps most likely, option for Tulloch may be to have the loan cut short in January to find another move that can guarantee him more playing time, whether that would be at the same level or perhaps lower down the pyramid.
It’s a sad turn for a player who once looked like he would have a part to play at The Hawthorns, but with this, the latest of a number of uninspiring loan spells, a more long-term solution could be found to get him off the books come the summer.
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