Carlisle United midfielder Josh Dixon has joined Workington Reds on a one-month loan deal.
Dixon, 21 next month, joined the club’s academy as a nine-year-old and worked his way through the age groups to earn his first one-year deal at the end of the 2018/19 season.
An attack minded midfielder, he battled back from a cruciate ligament injury to earn a new two-year contract in July 2019.
He suffered another setback when he picked up another knee injury during training that month, but his hard work was further rewarded when he penned a new two-year deal in the summer of 2021.
He has made a total of six appearances for the Blues so far.
Manager Keith Millen said: “I’ve spoken to Josh a couple of times, and he’s been out injured for a long period.
“I’m not too worried about where he goes or what level he plays at because of that. He’s a talented lad, he just needs to play every week and get some confidence in his own body.
“All I care about is him going and playing football, not even so much how he plays, because I can see the talent he’s got.
“It’s about him getting confidence that he can play every week, then it puts him in a lot better position when he comes back. At least then I’ll know he can play a run of games, which he hasn’t done for a few years now.”
“The problem we’ve had in getting him out on loan, we can obviously talk to other managers and tell them how talented he is, but they look at his record and it’s difficult because he hasn’t played.
“You can’t really advise someone to take him when he hasn’t played any football. That dictates the level where he might go.
“He understands why we’re doing it, we’re doing it for the right reasons, and hopefully he can go there and stay injury free.
“If he goes there and gets a good run of games he’ll have more confidence in himself, and it’ll show everybody else that he’s back and ready as well.”
