Conor Thomas, the 17 year old Coventry born footballing prodigy is set to return to Coventry City for treatment to an injury he sustained while training at Liverpool, the club who took the midfielder on loan during the January transfer period.
The loaning of the City youngster sparked huge controversy among the board and was ultimately the catalyst for the the change of chairman and directors earlier in the year.
Thomas will return to his parent club Coventry City for treatment amid doubts about his long term future at Liverpool.
In a deal shrouded in secrecy, Thomas initially went to Liverpool on loan for a loan fee of around £250,000 with Liverpool having the option to buy the player for around £1.5m in the summer.
Many fans and some board members saw this a short sighted policy for a relatively small sum of money for the player who could well be worth several million pounds later in his career.
Not only would his asset value for the club be considerably larger, the club would also have benefited from his skills as a footballer until he moved on to another club.
With a hamstring injury to Thomas, his move to Liverpool is in doubt. It is understood that he has failed to settle in the North East and despite winning his first England under 18's cap, Liverpool are having second thoughts as to whether Thomas is the right player for them. Since his move to Liverpool, Thomas has been training with and playing for the Liverpool reserves.
Liverpool's loss might well turn out to be Coventry City's gain and the City manager Andy Thorn said the CT: "I spoke to Conor yesterday because he has got a hamstring injury which he did in training so I will be speaking to Liverpool to find out what's happening, but if they don't take him, then we will welcome the boy back with open arms because he's one of ours and we'll have him back around the fray, and I think the way we are playing will suit him as well."
"It has been a great experience for him going to Liverpool because he will have seen their standards and what other clubs do."
The Coventry City Academy player was attracting interest from several Premier League clubs and was regarded as one of the more exciting prospects for the future and his transfer deadline day move to Liverpool was greeted with dismay and disbelief.
Thomas had made his club debut for Coventry City in the FA Cup fourth round game at St Andrews where City went down to a 3-2 defeat, but just two days later he was on his way north.
Coventry City vice chairman Gary Hoffman cite the move as the last straw and resigned from the board in protest at the way in which the club was being run.
It later emerged that chairman Ray Ranson was also against the transfer and that the decision to sell Thomas was done without the knowledge of the manager at the time Aidy Boothroyd.
It has emerged that if Liverpool do decide to keep Thomas and pay the £1.5m fee, a very large agents fee would leave City with a fraction of the money and it is this reason why there was such a huge board room rift.
Whatever the politics of the Thomas transfer, it now look increasingly likely that he will soon be back in Coventry training once again with the City squad and he could well be a City player for the foreseeable future.
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