Young Bristol City midfielder Ayman Benarous has picked up a minor injury in his recovery from back-to-back ACL knee injuries, and won’t be going out on loan to get match fit any time soon, according to Robins manager Nigel Pearson.
There had been talk earlier in the summer from City coaching staff that a loan could be the way to get the combative midfielder back up to speed following the serious injuries that put his career on hold for 18 months.
But Pearson made it clear he wanted Benarous very much within the City fold for the foreseeable future, as much for his own well-being as the club’s.
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Benarous’s return to the pitch in a handful of pre-season games and under-21 fixtures has been a silver lining for City fans amid the cloud of losing Alex Scott to the Premier League this summer. Benarous burst onto the scene in October 2021 making his debut in a match which was City’s first home league win for nine months.
From there, he got into the team and stayed and often looked as much a prospect as an 18-year-old as Scott did. He played 11 games for City through that winter, before the first of two ACL injuries put him on a long and painful road to recovery.
Now, having just turned 20 and with City’s midfield seeing many personnel changes, the sight of the local Bristol lad on a teamsheet for the first time since the late winter of 2021-22 has been a blessing for City fans.
His progress has been halted, albeit temporarily, by the kind of unrelated minor injury often suffered by players coming back from long lay-offs, and it has cemented the need in Pearson’s mind to keep Benarous close while he gets back to full fitness.
“I haven’t even considered it,” said Nigel Pearson. “He’s currently having to deal with a minor injury that he’s picked up. He’ll be going nowhere until he’s robust enough to go out on loan, and I wouldn’t dream of putting out a young man who has had to go through well over a year with two ACL ruptures, I wouldn’t just bung him out on loan somewhere. We need to make sure that he firstly recovers totally from that (and) the psychological side of being out for that amount of time,” he added.
“I spoke to him this morning and he’s quite down today, because he’s had some pitch time in games and done pretty well, and then he’s picked up a minor injury that he’s going to have to get over again. To him at the moment, the world probably feels a bit unfair. We have to look after players in that situation. Their well being is the most important thing.”
The prospect of Benarous coming back in the next few weeks and months could be like a new signing for City, especially if he is able to show the same levels and promise he did two winters ago. “Once we’ve seen him and he’s fit and played enough games, then we’ll decide if he’s right for us,” said Pearson. “I think on what I’ve seen of him in the past, when he broke into the side, I thought he was excellent, so a loan deal at the minute is the furthest thing from my mind,” he added.
