David Edgar has had a tough year. Despite a tantalizing taste of first-team action in the pre-season, even trying his hand in a defensive midfield role, he's seen precious little action for Burnley. Regardless of his generally consistent fitness, and his newly-minted status as a senior-capped Canadian international, Edgar has been limited to just six league appearances for the Clarets. Once one of the shining young lights of Canadian soccer, the still-promising defender is stuck in an all-too-familiar bench-bound rut.
And it looks like things aren't going to get any better any time soon.
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Nineteen-year-old Everton centre-back Shane Duffy, on loan with Burnley until the end of the 2011 campaign, seems have leapfrogged Edgar (and a few other choices) into the starting XI. It's another setback in the career of a player who's never managed to establish himself in a starting role. Worst of all for the 23-year-old Edgar, he was set to rejoin Swansea City for a repeat of last-year's successful loan spell until a painfully nitpicky bit of FIFA red tape scuttled the deal.
Duffy's arrival could mean the writing is on the wall for Edgar at Turn Moor: Will the summer see him push for a move to greener pastures? With World Cup qualifying coming around in the fall, it may well behoove Edgar to find a club that will give him minutes, or he risks losing his spot in Stephen Hart's squad.
It's not too late for Edgar to develop into the player Canadian fans have always hoped he would be. But fans can be forgiven for feeling that time is running out.