While Bristol City deal with an injury crisis in midfield, youngster Dylan Kadji is looking to gain valuable experience during a loan spell with League Two Swindon Town.
The 19-year-old had his first taste of senior action earlier this season when he started in the Carabao Cup victory over Wycombe. It was a dream debut, scoring from close range after just seven minutes to repay the manager's faith to hand him his first professional appearance.
Brief substitute showings followed at both Birmingham City and Millwall in the league before another start against Lincoln City but those 54 minutes in the dismal 3-1 home defeat proved to be his last action in a Robins shirt before heading out on loan.
Kadji appeared to fall behind fellow academy prospect Omar Taylor-Clarke in the pecking order and therefore a move to Jody Morris' side on transfer deadline day made sense for all parties. His languid style of play and physicality provide him with all the attributes to become a player who can dominate the middle of the park.
He's played five times in League Two and therefore it's still early days as Kadji adapts to new surroundings but we spoke to Swindon Town reporter Jonny Leighfield to get his insight on his start to life at the County Ground.
What have been your first impressions of Kadji?
He did okay in his first couple of games. There was going to be some rustiness there and to be honest, I think that naivety or rustiness is going to be there during his entire loan stint at Swindon. Overall, he has struggled a little bit in his first half-a-dozen games.
He was quite poor against Leyton Orient in the last outing. He gave the ball away, occasionally ball watched and didn't really do anything positive.
Town are having a bit of an injury crisis at centre-back and one of their defenders went off injured against Harrogate so he had to play in the back four. He looked like a fish out of water playing there. I think it's unfair to judge him there because I'm not sure he has played in that position before and if he has, I don't think he should play there again. It really didn't work.
Town did win the game 3-0 but Harrogate, who are one of the worst teams in the league, did look as though they could get back into it so it was nervy.
I would wonder whether he'll always have the right football brain, is that something he can learn or develop? He has got a lot of good attributes but he hasn't really shown an awful lot of that. Hopefully when he's called upon until the end of the season but he's young, he's only 19, so you have to take that into consideration.
What's impressed you?
When he does pick up the ball and drive forward, he eats up the ground so quickly. He's powerful too, he can shrug people off. When he plays in centre-midfield, his general positioning has been good - whether he makes the tackle or not is another thing.
But, for his physical attributes, I just think he needs to learn how to use them best to his advantage. In defensive midfield, I think he will learn a lot about himself during this loan spell and learn what it takes to compete in full-time football. I think sometimes he can play naively but I hope with experience, he can improve although he has struggled on occasions so far.
Style of play...
Swindon like to keep the ball on the ground, hold onto possession, and work the ball into spaces. His touch and passing is pretty good. With the ball at his feet, he's pretty comfortable so that's another positive you could put against his name.
He does suit the style of play but I do think his acquisition by Swindon was a little bit of a panic buy (or loan) in the fact he was somebody who was close and available on January transfer deadline day and he can play in our style so let's see if it works. I'm not sure it is working but Dylan will be all the better for the experience at the end of the season.
The formation is one of three or four, it's a case of whoever is fit at the moment. He's not been able to pick a consistent one but Kadji has played in a double pivot or in a midfield three. He's experienced a bit of everything as a defensive midfield, midfield and centre-back.
Have supporters taken to him?
There isn't much feeling either way to be honest. He hasn't played an awful lot so I think it takes around 10 games for a fan to form an opinion. I think the jury is very much out.
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