Kyle McFarlane has been knocking on the door of the first team for a while, but despite being the Under 23s top scorer last season, he has yet to make his senior debut for the club.
The 21-year-old was given a one-year contract extension back in May, and he has continued his rich vein of form at youth level, scoring a hat-trick in the 4-2 win over Colchester’s Under 23s at the weekend.
With Isaac Vassell’s injury setback, I asked fans whether McFarlane deserved to be given a chance off the bench by Garry Monk. A large majority think he should be given a try:
The fact is, you don’t know how someone will do until they are given a chance in the first team. Nobody is saying he will turn out like Marcus Rashford who made an instant impact after being plucked from the reserves, but it will be interesting to see how he does.
At 21 years of age, he needs to be playing at senior level, and if we can’t offer him a chance then perhaps a loan spell away in the lower leagues should be sanctioned so we can see what he can do.