At the beginning of the month, Edwards signed a contract until January with the U’s.

The 26-year-old had been with the club rehabilitating from a hamstring injury, and made a significant impression on United’s coaching staff when he returned to full training.

Edwards spent the first half of last season on loan with the U’s from Ipswich Town, after arriving on summer deadline day, and made a blistering start to life at the club, netting twice in four appearances.

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However, a hamstring injury suffered in training at the end of September ruled him out for two months.

He played two games at the end of November, totalling 70 minutes of football, but a recurrence of the hamstring problem saw Edwards return to the sidelines.

The winger then had his Tractor Boys contract terminated by mutual consent in January, prior to signing a deal with United until the end of the campaign, although he failed to feature again and spent the summer undergoing injury rehabilitation.

Three home wins from three, sitting outside the Championship play-offs on goal difference, and a tasty reunion this weekend.

Five games into the campaign feels an appropriate time to pause and reflect on the start to the season for #oufc https://t.co/Zs4zpN2OPD

— Liam Rice (@OxMailLiamRice) September 16, 2024

U’s head coach Buckingham is confident that Edwards is now raring to go, and would’ve hated to see the wide player turn out against United.

“I haven’t seen too much of Kyle while I’ve been here. I arrived in November, and he played all of 25 minutes against Cheltenham and 45 minutes against Bolton,” said Buckingham.

“We’ve now built him up in a way that we feel we can hopefully keep him on the pitch. It’s been a bit of a longer process, and the one thing I would’ve hated to see, knowing how we want to play, is a player of his quality and skillset, walk out of the building fully fit and ready to go, and walk into another team, and potentially play against us.

“He fits what we want, he’s capable of doing it, and we feel we’ve built him in a way that we can sustain and keep him on the pitch.

“We’ve already seen this season, if we have a Shemmy [Przemyslaw Placheta] or Matt Phillips to come off, the ability to bring on a Kyle Edwards, or a [Siriki] Dembele, or Owen Dale, or Malcolm [Ebiowei], it’s going to be so important to allow us to keep doing what we want.”

Edwards came through the academy system at West Bromwich Albion, where he scored four times in 49 appearances across all competitions.

During his time at The Hawthorns, Edwards spent the 2017/18 campaign on loan at Exeter City in Sky Bet League Two.

He joined Ipswich in August 2021, netting three times in 63 games, and helped the club to promotion from League One during the 2022/23 season.