Tayo Adaramola was sent back to Crystal Palace from his loan spell at League One side Leyton Orient following the first half of the season recently.
The defender, who made 15 league appearances during his spell at Orient, had previously been at Bradford City during their promotion winning 2024-25 campaign.
During his time at Bradford, Adaramola made a sizeable impression featuring 16 times and contributing three assists as the Bantams secured a third place finish in the league.
Now, with the 22-year-old returning to Palace, some City fans have questioned whether Tayo Adaramola could return to the University of Bradford Stadium for a second spell.
This article outlines how this could be possible, whilst looking at Bradford City’s depth in the left-wing-back position, and the probability of the deal actually happening in the window.
During his spell at Leyton Orient, Adaramola was able to complete 73.3% of his passes successfully whilst also having 13 successful dribbles.
These statistics, combined with a 26.7% successful cross rate, the 22-year-old’s attacking output can not be understated.
Whilst the left-sided defender can offer going forward, his dueling abilities hold him back slightly.In his spell with Orient, Adaramola only won 50.7% of his ground duels and 33.3% of his aerial duels.
As a wing-back, whose main job is arguably to defend the left side successfully, a low duel success rate can endanger a team and lead to opportunities for the opposing side.
Furthermore, in comparison to Ibou Touray (who has been seen at left-wing-back for the majority of the season so far), Adaramola struggles to reach Touray’s levels in ground duels (59.5%) and aerial duels (60.2%).
Therefore, the argument can be made that signing the Crystal Palace defender would not directly improve Bradford’s abilities in the position from a defensive standpoint.
So far in the 2025-26 season, Bradford have made two loans with both players (Tom McIntyre and, most recently, Louie Sibley) at the club currently.
Under EFL rules, sides are allowed to have five players in a matchday squad, but are allowed to have as many loans as they want. Therefore, there is a loan spot open for space for Adaramola to sign for the club.
However, with Bradford’s squad size now sitting at 27 players (excluding Zac Hadi and George Goodman), the Bantams may need to reduce their squad size if they are to sign the Crystal Palace man.
Currently, Bradford City have two recognised left-wing-backs (Ibou Touray and Lewis Richards).
Meanwhile, Tyreik Wright can also play in the position.
Furthermore, City typically do not feature a left-wing-back on the bench in their matchday squad with a left-wing-back featuring on a Bantams bench just once in the last five Bradford matchday squads.
Therefore, in order for this deal to occur and for Adaramola to receive game-time whilst at the club, Bradford may need to offload one left-wing-back.
The most obvious of these options would, arguably, be Richards who has featured just four times for the Bantams this season, and not once in a league match.
However, even if Richards was to be offloaded, given the quality of both Wright and Touray, Tayo Adaramola may find it difficult to break into the starting eleven which could limit his game-time and subsequent development.
With all factors taken into account, the probability of a deal to bring Adaramola back to the University of Bradford Stadium arguably is low.
But, with the correct factors and circumstances (injuries), Bradford could look towards his services as a potential option to aid them in the second half of the season.
