Wilson: Ebanks-Blake is not for sale but needs to work hard

Ebanks-Blake was left out of the 18-man squad that travelled to Oxford United last weekend (match report HERE, Wilson claiming that he wanted a younger face on the bench and also intimating that Ebanks-Blake lacked the performance levels required to be involved.

Rumours began to circulate that the 30-year-old had been transfer listed, but Wilson denied that was the case.

He said: “It’s not true that he’s been transfer listed. He wasn’t part of the team on Saturday because I wanted to look at the younger side of the squad and for him to travel all the way there and not feature would have been a waste of time, so we took another young lad with us.

“It’s up to Sylvan to produce the standard of first team performances that I expect if he’s to feature regularly. He’s not hitting the mark for me at the moment and I think there’s a lot more to come from him. Whether he wants to do it is up to him but right now the level of application I expect from a player of his experience isn’t there.

“It’s disappointing as he’s a big member of the squad and one of our key players. He may have played in the Premier League but that was a long time ago and you can’t rest on your laurels - it’s what’s in front of you now and how you play in your last game that matters.

“That goes for everyone, not just Sylvan. If people don’t perform they can’t expect to play.”

A slideshow from Saturday’s game at Oxford can be found HERE