The Leeds United defender will struggle for minutes if he remains at Elland Road for the rest of the campaign.
Leeds United are expected to be busy in the January transfer window, with a new striker a priority for manager Garry Monk and other areas potentially in need of strengthening as the Whites continue their promotion push.
Then there are the likely departures, with Toumani Diagouraga and Luke Murphy surely coming to the end of their time at Elland Road.
Finally there are the youngsters who may see a loan move as their best chance of first-team football this season, with one player in particular likely to be desperate to recover from injury in time to secure a temporary move.
That player is Lewie Coyle, who is highly rated at Leeds but currently side-lined with a knee injury.
The 21-year-old is making good progress and is expected to be back in contention sometime in January, but exactly when could make or break his season.
After all, with Luke Ayling excelling since his summer move to Leeds and Gaetano Berardi now back to full fitness himself, a spot at right-back seems a push in the short-term for Coyle.
With that in mind, and with Leeds pushing hard for a promotion place and picking their first-choice XI at every available opportunity, the best bet for Coyle would be a loan move.
The problem is, with no emergency window following January he will have to leave next month or not at all.
Of course Leeds will not rush him back and the important thing is ensuring Coyle fully recovers, but if he does so, it would be no surprise to see a late switch to a League One side as he continues his own impressive development.
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