OXFORD United felt the risk outweighed the reward when it came to playing new signing Malcolm Ebiowei against Palermo.

The 20-year-old winger joined on loan from Crystal Palace on Friday, having spent most of last week training alone after the Eagles departed for their pre-season tour in the US.

Because Ebiowei had trained so little with the U’s, the medical advice was to leave the wide man out against Palermo, and to instead assess him after a full week with the United squad.

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U’s head coach Des Buckingham explained: “There was all the intention to try and play Malcolm. He’s trained with Crystal Palace for the first four weeks of pre-season.

“Crystal Palace went away on a USA tour last Saturday, so Malcolm was left behind with the intention that he goes out on loan.

“We were fortunate enough to secure his services, but because he’s been here by himself, he’s been training in isolation.

“That doesn’t mirror the team training. The risk we would’ve faced by playing him would’ve been that if he opened up, we don’t know what he’s done physically this week.

“The risk and the reward, the risk was too great than it was the reward, so we made the decision to get a full week’s worth of training into him, and make sure that when next Saturday rolls around, he’s in the best condition not just for Saturday, but that we don’t expose our players and lose them.

“It was a calculated decision, that again from a medical and sports science point of view, they’re the experts in this space, and I will always listen to the experts.”