Jonté Smith will be without a club unless he can make a fist of his loan spell in Finland, it can be confirmed, after Crawley Town gave the greatest hint yesterday that the 19-year-old Bermudian will not be offered a new deal in the summer.

The Sky Bet League One club formally announced that Smith has been loaned to Kemi Kings for the rest of the English season with a view to signing a permanent deal.

“Jonte’s contract is up at the end of the season, so this is a great opportunity for him to put himself in the shop window and get some games under his belt,” John Gregory, the Crawley manager, said.

Smith arrived in Finland on Wednesday to begin life at his new club, who play in the second tier of the Finnish league.

“You have to admire him for being prepared to go to a different country to experience different football and we all wish him well,” said Gregory, who took over at the West Sussex club last November after the club parted company with Richie Barker.

Kemi Kings are coached by Tommy Taylor, who played alongside Clyde Best at West Ham United in the Seventies and also captained England at youth-team level.

Best, who became an iconic figure for black footballers during his stint at Upton Park, sees no reason why Smith cannot flourish under Taylor’s direction.

“Playing under my former West Ham team-mate Tommy will bode well for Jonté’s development because he is playing at a high standard,” he said. “Tommy is a good guy and any time you get a chance to play at a high standard, you have to jump at it.

“Any time you get away from here to play football, it is going to benefit you, regardless where you are going. So if you have a chance to go to Finland, that is good because football is a world game and not just played in one or two countries.”

Smith signed a one-year deal with Crawley in April 2012 after a prolific season with the club’s under-18 side and after an equally successful spell on loan with Met Police, the club gave him a year’s extension in March last year.

But this season has been one disappointment after the other, with a pre-season injury blunting his chances of making inroads into the first team, the manager who had backed him leaving and the club entering a prolonged relegation battle that would be no place for a largely untried teenager.

A succession of non-League loan spells followed, with the last, to Gosport Borough for a month, a particular calamity owing to a sustained period of poor weather in the South of England, resulting in him getting on the pitch for the struggling Skrill Conference South side only on a handful of occasions. And in the mother of all ironies, Gosport will be making to trek to Wembley on Sunday week, having reached the final of the FA Trophy, for which Smith was ineligible.

The other loans were with Havant & Waterlooville and Met Police.

Smith has made four appearances for the Crawley first team, all as a substitute, during his two-year stint.