Wearing the No5, Sol Bamba entered the field with a huge grin on his face in what is presumably his first taste of action since coming on in the 89th minute in Middlesbrough's 3-1 win over Stoke just over four months ago.
What his surprise appearance suggests remains to be seen with the transfer market closing late on Thursday but there was a sense of intrigue about his performance and fitness with Nigel Pearson and Richard Gould watching on from the High Performance Centre.
Pearson wants a right-sided defender in the window but Bamba started in the middle of a back three with City's two highly-rated centre-backs in Joe Low and Ryley Towler on either side of him. Similar to Kal Naismith's role in the first team, Bamba was the deepest of the three.
