SONNY Perkins has not been told he will be returning to his parent club next month, despite a lack of playing time at Oxford United.

Since joining the U’s on a season-long loan from Leeds United in August, the 19-year-old striker has played just six times, with only three of those appearances coming in Sky Bet League One.

Those games though have been late cameo roles from the bench, totalling just five minutes of league action.

His two starts for United have both come in the EFL Trophy, a competition which has produced his only goal this season, when he opened the scoring in the 5-0 win against Chelsea Under-21s.

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Asked whether Perkins will be returning to Elland Road next month, U’s head coach Des Buckingham said: “We haven’t had that conversation with Sonny. He’s still training with us and training extremely well.

“He’s just got Sparky [Mark Harris] and Gats [Gatlin O’Donkor] in front of him, and that’s been the situation, so rather than put someone on the bench that we potentially aren’t going to use, we’ll free up a space for a midfielder, to make sure we have cover in those areas.”