Manchester United manager David Moyes has hinted that he may want on-loan midfielder Ryan Tunnicliffe back at Old Trafford for the second half of the season.

The 20-year-old is with the Blues until January with boss Mick McCarthy having already confirmed that he would like him to remain at Portman Road for the rest of the campaign.

Asked whether he had plans to add to his squad in January, Moyes said: “We’ll try, but I’m quite actively looking at our own boys.

“The likes of Jesse Lingard (on loan at Birmingham), Nick Powell (at Wigan) and Ryan Tunnicliffe – the boys who are out on loan – they are the ones I am making sure I keep my eye on because they are the future.

“They are the ones who are part of the club and have been in the system so we are certainly keeping our eyes on all the boys who have been out on loan and hoping that they might be able to come back and help us if we need it in January as well.”

Speaking about Tunnicliffe on Friday, McCarthy said: “I’ve tried to ring Moyesey but he’s busy and it doesn’t need to be done yet. His agent knows we want to keep him, Tunners knows I want to keep him. We’ll see what happens.

“I guess the only way it won’t happen is if they want to take him back and put him in the team or if they want to take him back and put him out at a Premier League club, which could happen, but we knew that at the start. Hopefully, he’ll be with us.”

Tunnicliffe has started all but one of the last 17 games, the Blues losing just three times in that period.