‘No idea’ - Bristol City boss hints at potential loan deal as £2m man’s injury timeframe unknown

Nigel Pearson has conceded that he has little idea how long summer signing Ross McCrorie will be out of action for, and that Bristol City may look to bring in a loan signing to cover the right-back position.

The Scottish defender joined the Robins for £2 million from Aberdeen last month but has been forced to sit out with a bacterial infection since his arrival.

Initially, it was thought that he would only be missing short term, but Pearson confirmed after the Birmingham City defeat that McCrorie may be out for an extended period of time.

“He’s going to be out a bit longer than we thought... Pick a number between one and 10 (weeks)… And then add a couple... I don’t know, I’ve got no idea,” he said.

“We don’t know because if it turns out that he needs surgery, then, because of where the infection is, it complicates the timescale. Because of the nature of it, we need to make sure that we protect him first and foremost.”

McCrorie’s absence leaves George Tanner as the only senior right back at BS3, and with less than two weeks left of the transfer window, the City boss admitted that the club may look to bring in a loan signing to fill in for McCrorie.

“Because of Ross McCrorie’s situation, we’ve considered whether we can do some sort of a loan situation to cover that position, which gives us the ability to get Ross back and Rob Atkinson back, rather than spend money on a player that when those players come back, clutters up the position,” Pearson added.

“It sits outside of how we saw this window, but when you pick injuries up, the timescales might be a little bit longer so you have to be a bit creative. We've talked about loans and we've talked about players who might be possible to do, again, when there's something more I’ll tell you, but at the moment there isn’t anything on that.”