Mat Sadler to be cautious over loanee Walsall star

The 20-year-old, who joined the Saddlers on a season-long loan on transfer deadline day, was replaced at half-time in Buckinghamshire.

The former England under-19 international made 40 appearances for Birmingham in the Championship and Sadler acknowledged that he will need time to reach his maximum level of performance again.

He said: “I’m glad you came up with that statistic because I looked at that myself. For him, I’m well aware and again that goes with the relationships I’ve got at Birmingham and where he’s at in terms of his levels.

“George is a wonderfully talented and very athletic midfield player, who we’re going to have to use carefully.

Albion loanee Reyes Cleary made his League Two bow with a promising second-half showing at MK Dons, after also starring in the draw at Birmingham as a late substitute in the EFL Trophy four days earlier.

Cleary was also plagued by injuries during the previous campaign which prevented him from heading out on loan earlier.

However, the youngster featured for the Baggies during pre-season and also made his seventh appearance for the club in their 2-1 defeat at League Two outfit Fleetwood Town in the EFL Cup first round last month.

And Sadler is confident the pair (Hall and Cleary) can both contribute while continuing the process of reaching the fitness levels to start week in, week out.

“I certainly don’t expect that to be for 90 minutes at the moment (for Hall) but there will come a point, similar to Reyes, where I think we get to that,” the Walsall boss continued.

“They will buy into the process of the next couple of months to help them get to exactly where they want to be.

“But make no mistake about it, they’re both very good players who’re going to affect things now as well.”