Middlesbrough sporting director Kieran Scott has confirmed that Josh Coburn will remain on loan at Bristol Rovers for the remainder of the season after an outstanding start to his time with the Gas.
Coburn has scored five goals in 15 games in all competitions and grown into the position of leading the line for Rovers alongside Aaron Collins, displaying real maturity with each performance.
The 20-year-old had been a late arrival to The Quarters after being signed on summer deadline day, due to a knee injury, not making his debut until October 4 but has quickly adapted to the demands of League One in what will be his first full professional season of playing consistently.
From Boro’s perspective, while Coburn is a valued asset and there has been some consideration that he could perform in the Championship, ultimately it will be detrimental to his development to bring him back to the Riverside where he’s unlikely to earn the same volume of minutes.
"The plan is not to bring Josh back,” Scott told a Middlesbrough Supporters Forum. "It doesn’t help the player to come back and not play, especially when he is playing now. He has to keep playing and doing well.
"There is still a lot of development needed, there is no point in bringing him back to sit on the bench then play for 10 or 15 minutes each week like he did that last year. He needs to play 30/40 games, stay fit. It’s a good environment for him to be in as Joey is playing him every week."
Coburn’s success so far at the Gas continues a trend under Joey Barton of bringing in talent from higher up the pyramid and accelerating their development, following in the footsteps of Elliot Anderson (Newcastle United) and Connor Taylor (Stoke City).
Earlier this month, Barton was forecasting that Coburn could represent England in future such is his talent, attitude and application and status as one of the few young strikers in the country playing regular competitive football, and scoring, at his age.
“Josh is a huge player in our team. But I think he has an enormous future out in front of him if he gets a little bit of luck with injuries, I think he could go on to play for England,” Barton said.
“For someone of that size, his athleticism, the way he goes looking for work; it’s just me saying this, so I’m not comparing him to this player but there’s a few strikers who you play against over the course of your journey as a player who do things differently.”
Retaining Coburn is one less headache for Barton as January approaches with Rovers expected to be busy across the window as they plot a run at the League One play-offs over the second half of the campaign.
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