Forward now DESTINED to leave after latest transfer move

Liverpool made the decision to loan out several fringe and young players last summer.

It’s fair to say it’s been a mixed bag.

James McConnell was sent to Ajax for what was supposed to be a one-season loan. But he has returned early having failed to make a decisive Eredivisie breakthrough.

Harvey Elliott is caught in loan limbo meanwhile - with Aston Villa unwilling to meet the minimum-game threshold which would convert his loan into a permanent £35m deal.

And Kostas Tsimikas is another loan player experiencing difficulty and his spell at Roma is also set to be cut short.

This is not what Arne Slot and Richard Hughes envisaged when sending players out on loan - and it appears there is one more player ready to return to base ahead of schedule.

Lewis Koumas on loan at Birmingham

Lewis Koumas, 20, was sent to Birmingham City during the off-season but has been unable to carve out a role for himself as a starter in Chris Davies’ squad.

The Wales international has been involved plenty in matchday squads - but game time has been at a premium.

Davies has admitted that discussions had taken place over the best way forward for Koumas - with the player also admitting that talks were ongoing with Liverpool over his future.

And now it looks as though the versatile attacker’s fate is sealed at St. Andrew’s. Birmingham have signed ANOTHER attacker on loan for the rest of the season in the shape of Ibrahim Osman.

Osman loan deal spells the end for Koumas

Brighton opted to cut his loan deal short at Auxerre in Ligue 1 - instead sending him on loan to the second tier for the second half of the season.

This creates a couple of problems for Koumas.

The first is that competition for his place has been ramped up. The second reason is that Birmingham now have SIX players on loan and Championship regulations dictate that they can only have FIVE in their matchday squad.

The Birmingham Mail paints two scenarios over how the Blues will deal with their new problem. The club may look into making Patrick Roberts’ loan deal from Sunderland permanent or else they are preparing to send Koumas back to Liverpool.

The report also states that the recall window for Koumas has been extended - suggesting that Birmingham are currently weighing up the next step carefully.

Although Koumas has played - and scored - for Liverpool’s first team it’s highly unlikely he would form part of Arne Slot’s squad for the rest of the season.

Instead he seems destined to be fixed up with a second loan - most probably at Championship level where he played for Stoke City last season.

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