Wilson-Esbrand embraces elder-statesman role at City as contract expiry looms

Josh Wilson-Esbrand is poised to start Manchester City’s must-win EFL Trophy group stage clash at Port Vale on Tuesday, with City’s Under-21 head coach Oli Reiss highlighting the defender’s growing influence as a senior figure within the academy setup.

The 23-year-old has spent much of the past three years out on loan — at Coventry City, Reims, Cardiff City, Stoke City and Radomiak Radom in Poland — but returned to the Etihad this season without a place on the first-team Premier League squad list. That restriction limits him to EDS football, where he started the Premier League 2 win over Stoke City last Friday and is expected to feature again at Vale Park.

Wilson-Esbrand’s contract expires in the summer and a permanent exit looks likely, yet Reiss says the defender has responded to his unusual situation with a maturity that benefits the players around him.

“He is top in terms of his standards and behaviours,” Reiss told the Manchester Evening News. “He is part of our EDS and he will have minutes as much as possible. He is not just performing in terms of training of ‘the better I am the more minutes I get’ — you can really see the way he behaves and how he talks to the others. I had a good conversation with him and he said ‘I want to help all the younger players around me’, and this is the top combination he shows at the moment.”

Wilson-Esbrand came off the bench in City’s opening EFL Trophy fixture at Mansfield, a 4-1 win, but missed the subsequent defeat at Chesterfield that left the Blues needing a victory to reach the last 32.

Port Vale head into Tuesday’s game in second place in the group, one point ahead of City, while Chesterfield lead on five points. A City win, combined with a Mansfield victory over Chesterfield in their rearranged fixture next month, would see Reiss’ side top the group and earn a seeded berth in the knockout rounds in early December.