Calvin Ramsay will be forced to wait for his Preston North End debut following injury.
Calvin Ramsay will not be returning to Liverpool from his loan spell at Preston North End – despite facing another two months on the sidelines.
The former Aberdeen defender was handed the opportunity to earn competitive minutes in the Championship, following a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Ramsay was forced to undergo surgery on a knee injury which curtailed his progress last season, after being brought in from Pittodrie to challenge Trent Alexander-Arnold. The 20-year-old began pre-season at the AXA Training Centre in preparation for his time at Deepdale but he has yet to feature for Ryan Lowe’s side.
It had initially been hoped that he would be fit in time to face Salford City in the Carabao Cup first round. However, he sat out and looks to be sidelined for an extended period.
Preston are looking to challenge for the playoffs this season and the Lillywhites have earned four points from their opening two Championship fixtures. They will travel to newly promoted Sheffield Wednesday this weekend, looking to build on their 2-1 win over Sunderland.
However, they will be without the Scotland international – but Lowe confirmed that the Liverpool loanee will not have his loan agreement ripped up due to the injury.
The Preston boss said: “He’s just had a bit of a setback and we’ll make sure we monitor him now. If it takes six to eight weeks, whatever it takes, we’ll make sure we’ll build him up and get him stronger.”
He added: “There’s a lot of rumours that [Ramsay is] going back to Liverpool and the loan’s being cancelled, that’s not going to happen.
“The lad is disappointed and so are we, but these things happen in football. He hasn’t played many games over the last 12 months and again, we have a duty of care to all our players – even though he’s not ours permanently.
“We will certainly do that and when he’s fit and available, we’ll make sure he’s ready.
“I think Calvin was getting there. His fitness was getting up to speed, because he wasn’t anywhere near the levels. We were disappointed with that when he came to us; we had to do a few extra things with him to build him up.
“But, I think everything happens for a reason. I am a big believer in that and I think this has set him back, knowing that when he gets fully fit next time there will be no setback then. So, we’ll work with Liverpool on it and make sure we do the right things.”