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Manchester United youngster, Maxi Oyedele, has posted a cryptic message on Instagram, likely in reference to his return to his parent club after a torrid loan spell at Forest Green.
The 19-year-old played an important part in the club’s FA Youth Cup victory in 2022, coming off the bench in the final versus Nottingham Forest.
The Salford-born player who represents Poland’s Under-21 team, had played eight out of 11 Premier League 2 games this season before he was sent out on loan to the League Two strugglers.
The youngster’s loan could not have gotten off to a worse start as The Green’s boss, Troy Deeney, left the club after just one day of the loanee’s stay.´
Oyedele played four games for the side from The New Lawn Stadium with a total of only 63 minutes on the pitch.
While there were no official reports of an ending to the Forest Green loan, the fact he is training with United and has played two games for the Under 21s this month, providing an assist in his side’s 2-4 loss at home to Derby, suggests he won’t be returning.
The new Forest Green coach’s comments allude to the fact that all was not rosy at the New Lawn. Steve Cotterill claimed after a game against Crawley Town in mid-February that “I think that Maxi has to do a lot more to get into the starting lineup. I didn’t feel as though there was enough productivity maybe from him in the second half”.
Subsequently, the player would fail to make the squad in the next four games before finally returning to Carrington.
This is the probable reason behind his latest Instagram post which is a picture of the player in action for United and simply reads “water under the bridge”.
The phrase chosen by the player clearly suggests that there were issues during his loan, quite probably with the manager but that it has all been forgotten about now he is back at his parent club.
Interestingly, United star and former Youth Cup teammate of Oyedele, Kobbie Mainoo, also commented on the post with an image from the Sopranos TV show, portraying the main character Tony Soprano, with a beaming smile across his face.
This probably highlights the central midfielder’s happiness that his old academy midfield partner is back in Manchester. Another United youth product, Hannibal Mejbri, also commented “I like” and put a heart emoticon beside his words.
The Tunisian knows a thing or two about problems while being on loan as he was also exiled from the Sevilla squad before fighting his way back into contention and even earned a first start last weekend.
The Polish player will need to get his head down in anticipation of a more successful loan next season as he aims to progress towards the first team in the same way his fellow Youth Cup winners Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho have.
