“I can understand why” – Birmingham’s Lee Bowyer responds to Man United decision

Birmingham City boss Lee Bowyer has suggested he “can understand why”  Manchester United have triggered a 12-month option in Tahith Chong’s contract and predicted he will be sent out on loan again next season. 

The 22-year-old joined the Blues on a season-long loan in July and had become one of Bowyer’s most dangerous attacking players before picking up an injury that has kept him sidelined for much of the 2021/22 campaign.

Chong is back fit now and is set to start against rivals West Bromwich Albion today but beyond the end of the season his future is slightly less clear.

United have triggered a one-year option that keeps him contracted at Old Trafford until next summer and, speaking to Birmingham Live, Bowyer has responded to the Premier League club’s decision and predicted the Dutchman will be on the move in the upcoming window.

He said: “I think he is a good player, he has obviously been unlucky this season with his injury. It was a freak one so he didn’t play as much football as Chongy or Man U would have liked so I can understand why they have done that because he is a big talent.

“He is a player that is learning the game, that is what he was doing here, learning and improving. It was just unlucky that it got cut a little bit short. So I am sure they will be looking to loan him out again next season somewhere, to get a full season under his belt and then go from there.

“That’s just me putting two and two together, but that’s what I think will probably happen with him and what he probably needs I think.”

The Red Devils’ technical director Darren Fletcher has suggested previously that all EFL loanees will be brought back into the first team squad for pre-season.

Chong has been at United since leaving the Feyenoord