Nigel Clough says Burton Albion will again look at the possibility of sending some of their young stars out on loan this season.

Marcus Harness has already joined League Two side Port Vale until the end of the campaign, while the Brewers boss will consider loan opportunities for the likes of Marcus Dinanga, Ben Fox, Jayden Cotterill and Jack Hallahan, dependent on the state of the squad in the coming weeks.

That quartet, as well as midfield playmaker Joe Sbarra, have all featured regularly for Albion so far this summer - and Clough is keen to see them develop.

Ben Fox in pre-season action for Burton Albion

Dinanga bagged 34 goals during a prolific spell at Matlock Town in the Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division last term, while Fox made an impression with National League North outfit Tamworth.

For that pair, the chance to play higher up the football pyramid in 2017/18 will be one Clough looks for.

Cotterill and Hallahan, meanwhile, are heading into their first campaign as professionals, having signed senior deals in May.

"It'll depend on numbers, it'll depend on injuries and things like that," said the Albion boss when asked about the plans for Burton's contingent of young academy graduates this season.

"If they are to go in the League (EFL), then we are ruled by the window-to-window condition, so that's not ideal.

"But if they go into non-league, that doesn't apply - that's probably more likely.

"I think Ben Fox needs to go and play again, he did very well at Tamworth.

"If we can get him up a league or something like that, that'd be good - we'll see how that one goes.

"Marcus Dinanga will go out again on loan and continue.

Jayden Cotterill sends in a cross

"Then we've got Jayden Cotterill and Jack Hallahan, who need to play football regularly as well.

"It'll be a thing where they go out and play at the weekends and then come back and do some training with us during the week, to get the balance that way.

"That (sending Fox and Dinanga to a higher division this year) is the ideal situation, that's the plan with them, just to try to improve them and say, 'can they cope at this level now?'

"Because they are both doing well. Marcus scored a lot of goals for Matlock last season, and Foxy did well."

A loan spell away from the Pirelli Stadium early in the season is not such a likely move for Sbarra, though.

Clough wants to keep the 18-year-old - who made his first-team debut on the final day of last term - around the squad and training full-time with the team in his first full season as a pro.

"He won't initially go out - we want him around with the first team because he's only just come up with us," added the Brewers manager.

Joe Sbarra in action for Burton Albion
Joe Sbarra in action for Burton Albion

"He did train quite a bit last season, but he's now no longer with the academy, he's with us.

"So just to help that transition in the next two or three months, he'll stay close to us and then we'll look at it after that.

"Plus he's proved when he's got on the pitch that if we do get a couple of injuries, we've got no problem at all involving him."