Stafford Rangers will continue to review the future of on-loan Jermaine Johnson as the need presses – but the teenager still has job security until the end of the season.

The 19-year-old defender had his professional contract at Championship club Derby extended this week, after signing a short-term deal in the summer fresh from two years with the Rams’ academy.

Johnson is now into the third of three separate one-month spells with Rangers this season and, by FA regulations, the club must either send him back or loan him until the end of the season.

Derby’s stance indicates there is some future for him at Pride Park, although their stance on the player continuing his development at Marston Road will not become clear until the month wares on.

His deal is up after the rearranged home game against AFC Telford on January 19, and manager Chris Brindley is waiting to see what will happen after that.

He said: “We have got Jermaine here until after the Telford game and we will have to see then what happens. I could extend his loan to the end of the season, but it’s more about what the clubs and player want to do in that respect.

“The lad has done alright for us and if I didn’t think anything of him I wouldn’t have brought him back to the club. But all we can do is wait and see what happens.”