Oxford United have received an early Christmas present after securing Tareiq Holmes-Dennis on loan for the rest of the season.

The 19-year-old has been a big hit since joining on a short-term loan from Charlton Athletic in October.

Despite having no experience of senior competitive football, he instantly looked at home and within a fortnight United had deemed veteran left back Tom Newey surplus to requirements, loaning him to Northampton Town.

His deal was quickly extended until the new year, but head coach Michael Appleton has been keen to prolong the talented youngster’s stay for the remainder of the campaign.

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Charlton have now agreed to it, although under the terms of a youth loan the Sky Bet Championship club can recall him with 24 hours’ notice.

Appleton said: “It’s great news, I know the kid’s delighted with it as well.

“He feels at home here, he loves the way we play and hopefully Charlton have a decent run between now and the end of the season and don’t call him back.

“I genuinely believe his strengths are in the opposition’s half and that’s why I brought him into the club.

“Although quite surprisingly for a young player, he enjoys defending and is a good at it, which you don’t get from a lot of young defenders these days, they all want to be wingers.”

With one piece of his jigsaw in place, Appleton is hoping to tie down his other on-loan full back, Joe Riley.

The Bolton Wanderers de-fender has started every game for United this season.

Appleton is keen to get an answer soon, but either way Riley looks certain to miss the home game against Cheltenham Town on January 3.

His deal expires on New Year’s Day, but even if Bolton were open to a new loan it is unlikely to go through in time, with the transfer window not opening until the day of the game, Appleton said: “As it stands he’s not available for the Cheltenham game, so we need to know pretty quickly.

“We’ll try hard over the next few days.

“I don’t think many people were aware the window didn’t open until January 3.”

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