AFC Wimbledon’s newest recruit Osman Foyo certainly looks like a formidable prospect following his performances in the National League South for Chelmsford City in the first half of this season.

The forward has got pace to burn and seems to be powerful and strong too. However, Wimbledon will be his first step into full-time professional men’s football, and because of that, it may take him some time to get up to speed.

One of the last times the Dons took a gamble on a speedy winger, Dylan Connolly, it did not turn out too well for the club or the player. The hope is that lessons have been learned.

He joined the club from Irish side Dundalk, for an undisclosed fee, reported to be in the region of €35k, and had helped them win a league and cup double prior to joining up with the Dons.

So there was plenty of excitement about the promise that he could bring to the struggling team at that point in time, with the hope that his blistering pace and good goalscoring stats could carry over to the EFL.

However, after a few appearances on the bench, it was quite clear to see that there was some confusion over where Connolly would hopefully cement his spot in the team, and where exactly his best position was for the club.

He had played on both flanks during the early stages of his career, but as Downes’ system did not really incorporate wingers, he was more or less used as a free-playing attacker that was simply on the pitch to terrify tiring opposition defences late on in games.

And while this was a mildly successful way of playing the Irishman, it meant that he very rarely got the chance to nail down a position. When, out of his 15 appearances, he was given a rare start, it was clear to see that his confidence had sunk due to not being allowed a great number of minutes.

It was due to this that, at the start of the following season, 2019/20, he was shipped out on loan to Bradford City. Clearly there were problems integrating him into the squad and entrusting him with more game time.

However, even at Valley Parade, he did not look to be developing any more than he had down south in London. He would score his first goal in English football while there, but it was clear this was more of a loan move to place the winger in the shop window than to develop him and bring him back a better player.

Frustratingly for Wimbledon fans, there was never an opportunity to see what Connolly could go on to do as player for the club after Downes had departed, as following his season at Bradford, which was interrupted by the global pandemic, he was released by the club with Glyn Hodges, the Dons’ new manager and part of Downes’ backroom team, clearly not keen on taking him back into the squad and working out a way to develop him into the promising player he looked like he could be when he first signed.

Connolly would go on to have underwhelming spells with Northampton Town and Morecambe, and an average season with St Mirren too, following his measly 15 appearances in yellow and blue.

He has not been seen on English shores since 2023, when he and Morecambe mutually decided to cancel his contract, as he instead decided to head back over to Ireland and has played for Bohemians, as well as Glentoran, where he has racked nearly 50 appearances across the two, but not scored a single goal.

While it is very easy to say that, naturally, with different managers should come different ways of incorporating young and exciting players, there are still some things that need to be done by current boss Johnnie Jackson if he is to avoid repeating Connolly’s overall poor transfer and spell with the club with new man Foyo.

First and foremost, he needs to have a clear and direct plan for Foyo to allow both the player to develop and fulfill the promise seen in him, but also so that the club can reap the benefits in the short and long term.

If he wants to incorporate the youngster, who the Dons signed from Ipswich Town in the last week of the transfer window, then it will be best done by firstly giving him some gametime off the bench, but then also allowing him some starts in his most favourable position, to make sure that he displays his strongest talents, and not just his useful assets.

Most likely that will mean giving him some time to play upfront, presumably on the left-hand side of the Dons’ attacking trio, but in the future, he may also be crafted into an out-and-out striker that can be an extremely useful asset for the club, with both height and pace on his side.

That does, however, leave a question mark over where it leaves academy graduate Aron Sasu, who is seen, mainly by the fanbase, as one of the next big attacking prospects out of the academy, as the Norweigan youth international plays the same position as Foyo.

What’s important, is that the club learn from past mistakes and make sure that their Ipswich import gets a proper chance at Plough Lane.

Kieran McKenna felt his Ipswich Town side were far from at their best as his second XI beat Coventry City 4-1 to dump their Championship opponents out of the fourth round of the FA Cup.

The Tractor Boys’ boss made eleven changes against the Sky Blues from his team that played last time out in the Premier League – a 2-1 Portman Road defeat to bottom club and fellow relegation battlers Southampton – and watched as they ran out 4-1 winners at the CBS Arena where they had taken a 3-1 lead into the break.

“There were some positives out there, for sure,” said McKenna, speaking in his post-match press conference. “Some really good individual performances, players who showed the growth that they’re making in their careers, and as a team there were a lot of good things.

“In the first half, especially, we put some good moves together and cut through the pitch on a few occasions and looked a goal threat. We were good value for the lead.

“Second half could have been better, to be honest. We got the goal fairly early in the half, which probably put the threat to bed, and then made some mistakes. But the game was still pretty comfortable, we defended our box pretty well and there were some tired bodies out there who got some good minutes in.”

Asked if beating a Championship side comfortably with a ‘second string’ was another big progress marker for the club, McKenna replied: “In some ways, yeah. I know that individuals who were here last year have improved, I know individuals who were playing elsewhere in the Championship last year have improved, and that we’re stronger in many areas. It’s a huge jump up to try and show that on a weekly basis (in the Premier League), but I see it day-to-day.

“It wasn’t the perfect performance, some things could have been done better, but to be able to make changes and come to a really good Championship side and score four goals without playing at our very, very best I think is a good sign of how we’ve developed as a club.”

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George Edmundson admits the last couple of months have been so stressful that it might have impacted his form.

The centre-back enjoyed an excellent start at Boro after joining on loan from Ipswich Town, making a quick impression with Boro fans. He quickly earned the trust of head coach Michael Carrick too, who was keen to make him a permanent signing in last month’s transfer window.

With Ipswich having a recall clause in the initial loan deal though, Edmundson was forced to play on through the uncertainty of his future as the two clubs tried to negotiate a fee for a permanent deal. That was until January 21, ahead of Boro’s clash with West Brom, when the Tractor Boys recalled him. Leaving the centre-back in limbo, he’s relieved to get his future sorted after eventually making his switch to Boro a permanent one, and he’s now hoping to put it all behind him and recapture his early form.

“I’m really excited,” he said in his first club interview. “There were a couple of stressful days and it’s been a stressful month but I’m happy to get it over the line and I can crack on now. All the lads have been really great with me, the staff and the management.

“But I’ve played a lot of games and as a footballer that’s what you want. It felt like the right fit for me to kick on now. I feel like if you look over the past month, I was in and out of the team. I think that was more to do with what was happening off the field and whether I was coming or going.

“Now, I can get back and focus on football and get the club where it belongs. I’ve only been here half a season but after my first week it was like I’d known the lads for four or five years or grown up with them. They helped me settle in and now coming back we just pick up where we left off.”

Though Edmundson’s return to the side proved a difficult night as Boro lost 3-2 at home to Sunderland, the 27-year-old defender remains convinced that promotion is achievable this season.

“Obviously get promoted, that’s our goal here, but just to improve really,” he said when asked what his loan goals were. “I work a lot with Woody, me and him get on really well. And even though defensively we should have had more clean sheets, for whatever reason moments in games haven’t gone our way.

“But if you do watch my individual performances from when I first started to now, I feel like I’ve really improved defensively, I feel like I’ve taken my game to a new level. I want to keep improving and be the best version of myself and hopefully that helps the team win more games.

“We have Rav and Dael, two top centre-halves, really, really good, so we’ll battle it out. We push each other. That competition is really good. It’s good if you have good characters fighting for the same position. The lads are great, no matter who is playing and who isn’t, we support each other. It’s a bit like a goalkeeper’s union, we’re all together and feed off each other. We all know we can bring different things to the team.”

While Edmundson’s form may have dipped slightly over recent weeks (which hopefully does just end up being because of his future uncertainty that can now be pushed to the back of his thinking), moving forward, he’s hoping to hear the song Boro fans have for him way more.

“I think it means more to my mum and dad, they buzz off it,” he said. “Every time I ring my dad after a game he’ll say ‘George, I’ve recorded them singing your name again’. He loves it and my mum does. I don’t think I’ve really ever had one before. I think I had ‘he’s one of our own’ at Oldham but this is my first proper song, so I’m really chuffed about it.”

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Downes joined the Saints on a permanent basis from West Ham in the summer following a loan spell last season but has been out-of-favour recently having been a mainstay of former boss Russell Martin’s side.

Town also made an offer to Downes in the close season and, as revealed earlier in the week, Southampton were unwilling to allow the 26-year-old to move to a relegation rival during this window.

Downes was left out of the squad for the game against the Blues a week ago when Juric said there had been “some problems” with the Town academy product in the days leading up to the game.

The Brentwood-born schemer was again absent for today’s FA Cup tie against Burnley at St Mary’s, which the Championship side won 1-0.

“Things happen in the window,” Juric told BBC Radio Solent. “We have a lot of professional players. Sometimes players make mistakes. It’s an ugly situation because his attitude was not good. It’s a little bit of a club problem and we’ll see now.

“We have [Jan] Bednarek who refused a big offer for his life to a big club and was always training and playing the games and that’s what i expect from all players.”

The Croat manager added: “It’s a bad situation, I think that sometimes when a market window happens, things that you don’t want happen.

“Now we have to think about how to resolve the problem, but I have to say I was a little bit disappointed.

“It’s not unusual. They do not do things correctly like you have to do. What is important is to put on the T-shirt, go to the training and train hard.

“Then you can disagree with the coach or with the club or with everybody. What is important is training hard, playing hard and then everything is resolvable.”

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