‘Brandon knows he’s probably not in my long term plans’
BRANDON Fleming will spend the coming weeks looking to take the next step in his career after being told he’s not part of Liam Rosenior’s plans at Hull City.
The Hull-born left-back saw a loan spell at Shrewsbury Town cut short earlier in the season which angered the City boss who said Fleming would be looked after and integrated for the remainder of the season.
Fleming, 24, has been training with Rosenior’s first team squad and was part of the group that travelled to Turkey last week and played 25 minutes in Thursday’s 1-0 defeat to Curacao at Corendon Airlines Park in Antalya, but with Ryan Giles, Matty Jacob and James Furlong above him in the pecking order, his opportunities at City are unlikely to be forthcoming.
“I think Brandon knows that he’s probably not in my plans long term, but he’s also someone who’s really important to me,” Rosenior told the Mail.
“I coached Brandon when he was 13 years old. We’ve got a really, really good relationship. His leaving Shrewsbury was not down to his performances, he had very, very good performances in League One.
“He knows he’s got Matty Jacob who has just signed a new deal, we brought Ryan Giles in on loan, but maybe in the summer he becomes a permanent.
“Brandon knows – I’m really honest and open with the players – that he probably needs to find football next season.”
Rosenior has also explained the situation with James Furlong, who caught the eye against Dick Advocaat’s side in a rare public appearance in Black and Amber, having picked up an injury in the FA Cup replay at Birmingham City in January.
“Our plan for James when we signed him (on deadline day in the summer from Brighton) was as a development player,” Rosenior said.
“He’s still only 21 years old. We signed him as someone with a lot of potential who at the right time if it was right we would put him in the team. It’s taken him time to learn and adapt to the way we work, but you can see his adaptation is getting better and better.
“I felt for him with his injury because that set him back after a really good performance at Birmingham (in the FA Cup), but he’s another one for the future.”