Just two months ago, Gillingham assistant coach Paul Raynor was speaking in glowing terms about a quicksilver forward signed on loan from Arsenal.
Trae Coyle was starting to make a real name for himself down at League One level. At the time, things were only looking up for the London-born 20-year-old.
“We have seen flashes of that (quality) from Trae since he has come in but he is getting used to us now and what we want from him,” Raynor told Kent Live in November.
“He showed real pace and every time he got the ball he looked a threat. I am delighted with Trae.”
Some eight weeks later, Kent Live report that Arsenal are set to cut Coyle’s spell at Priestfield short.
Despite scoring four times for the club, the technically-gifted left-winger has played just 16 minutes of football across the last four games and was left out completely for Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Burton Albion.
Once Gillingham’s bright young hope, Coyle now feels like a bad fit for a team drifting further and further towards a desperate, backs-against-the-wall brand of football.
As such, manager Steve Evans has been increasingly reluctant to indulge the talents of an exciting, if inconsistent, youngster.
The outspoken Scot is hardly famed for his love of free-flowing, forward-thinking football; much to the frustration of Gills fans who felt Coyle was capable of providing a spark in a side who have become the very definition of ‘mid-table mediocrity’.
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