Last Updated: Wed, 12 Dec 2012 16:07
West Brom assistant boss Keith Downing insists Jerome Thomas' Baggies career is not over, despite his loan exit.
Thomas is currently on loan with Championship outfit Leeds and it appeared as if he was set to depart the Hawthorns permanently in either January or at the end of the campaign.
However, Downing insists that Thomas, who has not featured under boss Steve Clarke, could yet force his way back into the fold at West Brom.
Downing claims the decision to sanction a loan move was based on getting Thomas some time on the pitch, rather than trying to engineer a permanent exit.
"The reason Jerome went out was to get games under his belt," Downing told the Birmingham Mail.
"Steve found he couldn't give that regularity of games so we wanted him to go out and get some football.
"It's a case of go out and play as much as you can over the Christmas period and prove your fitness.
"We're not shutting the door at all on Jerome.
"We can't fit him in at the moment, so we want him to go out to play football and get himself fully fit.
"It was unfortunate he should get injured when Steve came in. He's a good, consummate player who works hard at his game and it'll do him well to be at Leeds."
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