'I can say that-' Steve Bruce issues update on ex-Arsenal and Brentford youngster's Blackpool future

The left back, who is out of contract at Bloomfield Road in the summer, has managed just nine appearances throughout the current campaign so far, with only three coming in League One

Since making the move to the Fylde Coast from Brentford back in 2022, the former Arsenal youngster has struggled to make an impact in Tangerine.

On the back of spending time on loan with Forest Green Rovers in the second half of last season, the 24-year-old looked set to leave the club back in August under Neil Critchley, but a change in manager seemingly offered him one last chance.

All but one of Thompson’s outings this season have come under Bruce, but he’s been unable to break into the team ahead of the likes of James Husband and Hayden Coulson, with his last league appearance coming off the bench as a winger against Shrewsbury Town at the beginning of December.

“Dom trains every day as if it’s his last; he’s unfortunate that we’ve got a lot of talent in that area - that’s why Zac (Ashworth) went out,” the head coach explained.

“He’s out of contract, and it’s fair to say he needs to find a new home because it’s not happened for him here.

“I can say that, because I’ve had the same conversation with him, so let’s see what happens in the next few days and we’ll go from there.

“We’re trying to find the right solution, and if there’s anything that can be done then we’ll do it.”

Blackpool have parted ways with a number of players this month in order to trim down their squad.

One individual they weren’t planning on selling was Kyle Joseph, who has made the move to Hull City for an undisclosed fee on a three-and-a-half-year deal.

Bruce admits he can’t rule out any further departures ahead of the transfer deadline at 11pm on February 3.

“You can never say never with a week to go,” he added.

“If you’d asked me last week if we’d be selling our centre forward, the answer probably would’ve been no, but then the bid gets bigger and bigger to a certain level where you accept it.

“You can never tell, but we did need to trim the squad a little bit - we had too many.

“(Ollie) Norburn in particular is one who is out of contract in the summer, and it probably hasn’t gone as well as he would’ve liked. We’ve let him go and we wish him the best of luck.”