Zane Okoro / MJ Kamara
Are they one player? No, but I’ll put them together, because my gut feeling is they’ll almost be treated the same. Both are academy graduates, both have gone over to Ireland and got regular football. At the start of the season, Zane was impressing, and MJ was struggling for minutes, but there has been a swap of sorts. Zane is still doing well, but MJ has excelled for Glentoran.
If they both came back, I think pre-season would have seen them get minutes, as we assessed whether they were League One-ready or not. We saw Zane get some minutes a season or two ago, and MJ’s stats look decent, certainly enough to enter the first-team squad conversation. With the EFL Trophy, maybe I could see them sticking around and playing some matches.
I don’t see that now. We can have more subs, but I think less room for error, fewer games where we can play younger players without any real fear. That means a loan, and for both, League Two has to be the minimum. I’ve seen players come back from Ireland and go into the National League, but if we’re going to have MJ or Zane kicking on, they need a bigger platform.
Gut feeling? MJ out early, season-long. We may look at Zane in the League Cup, but after that, he’s also sure to be loaned out.
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