Carayol had made a tentative but impressive start to his loan spell with two goals under his belt already.
However, he has been starting recent games from the bench, although this isn’t seen as a problem, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post, as the Whites see the tricky winger as someone that they’d like to sign on a permanent basis.
The YEP article talks about the need for the club to look at trimming the wage bill for the next campaign, with Sam Byram and Tommaso Bianchi being the only ones to have left the club this term – Byram a permanent signing for West Ham and Bianchi a half-season loan to Italian Serie B side Ascoli.
With Steve Evans and Massimo Cellino having to make decisions about the future of permanent players at the club, the article goes on to quote that, “Evans is also interested in a full-time deal for Mustapha Carayol who came on a half-season loan from Middlesbrough last month.”
Even though he has been starting on the bench, his cameo performance in the last twenty-or-so minutes in the 1-0 defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest has meant that he may have forced himself further up the line to start in his next available match, he is likely to be ineligible to play against parent club Middlesbrough, with whom he is contracted until the summer of 2017.
Quoted in the Gazette Live of Carayol’s performance coming off the bench against Forest, Steve Evans glowingly said, “if ever there was a sign you need a Chris Wood, it was evident when when Mustapha picked up the ball, ran by the player and put in the middle of the box and no one was on the end of it. But Mustapha has given himself a chance of being involved next week because he came on and was very good.”