Port Vale loan news – Small’s Vale Park exit is confirmed, could Stevens follow in January?

Port Vale manager Darrell Clarke and Oxford manager Karl Robinson have been giving updates on two of the players on loan at Vale Park.

Clarke signed six players on loan before the transfer deadline closed, a move which meant that only five could be named in a matchday squad at a time. Four loanees – Mipu Odebeko, Dan Butterfield, Dennis Politic and Jack Stevens have been regular members of the matchday squad but appearances have been less frequent for Liam McCarron and Thierry Small.

Here’s what Clarke and Robinson had to say on Small and Stevens respectively.

Small’s Southampton recall confirmed

On Thursday, this website reported that Southampton had recalled Thierry Small from his loan spell due to lack of game time and this has now been formally confirmed by Port Vale manager Darrell Clarke. Clarke confirmed the recall to the Sentinel newspaper adding that “I have been in regular discussion with Southampton. I just feel, and they feel, that the game minutes he’s had have not been enough. I see their point of view. We have a fantastic relationship with Southampton and we thank them very much. Thierry is a great lad, a model pro and a real good lad to manage. But for various reasons, he hasn’t played the minutes that we would have liked.”

Oxford to review Stevens’ loan in January

Goalkeeper Jack Stevens has been a regular starter since he joined on loan from Oxford United. However, despite reports that the keeper had joined for the season, Oxford manager Karl Robinson told the local media that the loan spell was only until January. When asked if it was a season-long loan, he commented: “No. January we’re looking at. We’ll see. It’s a conversation we’ll have.”

Should Stevens be recalled by his parent club, it would leave Aidan Stone as the club’s only senior keeper and the Valiants presumably in the market during the January window for a goalkeeper.