Ligue 1 side Reims have completed the signing of left-back Josh Wilson-Esbrand on a season-long loan deal from Manchester City.
The 20-year-old spent the second half of last season on loan with Championship outfit Coventry City, making 14 appearances as a left wing-back in the second tier.
Wilson-Esbrand will now seek to gain regular first-team football in France with Reims, who finished 11th in Ligue 1 last season under the tutelage of 30-year-old head coach Will Still.
"Stade de Reims is a club that gives young people a chance. Everything is in place so that the young player feels good there and can flourish," Wilson-Esbrand told the club's official website.
🤝 @jwilsonesbrand#TeamSDR pic.twitter.com/s2wzYA4OS0
— Stade de Reims (@StadeDeReims) July 23, 2023
"I love learning new languages. I did two years of French during my schooling so I speak a little bit. They taught us the basics, the conjugations, a little vocabulary... On the other hand, I remember that we all had trouble with the oral comprehension tests. Now that I'm in France, I want to improve and I'm going to speak French as much as possible".
Wilson-Esbrand joined Man City's academy from West Ham United in 2019 and won the Premier League 2 title with the club's Under-20s in the 2021-22 season.
The highly-rated full-back has featured three times for Pep Guardiola's senior side, including two substitute outings in the Champions League group stage last season.
Wilson-Esbrand is Reims' seventh signing of the summer transfer window after the arrivals of Joseph Okumu, Teddy Teuma, Amine Salama, Oumar Diakite, Reda Khadra and Ludovic Butelle, and he could make his competitive debut when the French side travel to Marseille for their opening Ligue 1 game of the new season on August 13.
Oliver Thomas
