The Aston Villa right-back has fallen down the pecking order in recent weeks.
When Aston Villa signed James Bree from Barnsley last January, it was part of a major overhaul under manager Steve Bruce, and in time the teenager was expected to play a big role at the club.
With 61 appearances for the Tykes while still in his teens, Bree was tipped for a bright future, but less than a year into his Villa career and it already seems a long way back for the 19-year-old.
After starting the campaign on the bench, Bree got outings against Norwich City, Bristol City and Brentford, before falling out of favour and not even making the match day squad for the last five Championship matches.
With Ahmed Elmohamady, Ritchie De Laet and Alan Hutton all seemingly ahead of Bree in the pecking order, the Villa teenager faces a long hard slog between now and May, with under-23 football potentially the best he can hope for unless Bruce grants him a loan spell in January.
Perhaps the latter will be the best option for a player who is still young and needs to develop at his own rate.
The pressure on an under-performing Villa side at the start of the season will have done Bree no good, but neither will a prolonged spell with the second string when he was playing week in, week out for Barnsley just a few short months ago.
Bruce has the final call, and with Elmohamady impressing in Villa’s upturn, Bree looks set for more disappointment before things get better. It is how he deals with it that could determine his long-term future at the club.
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