"In the summer I am going to be looking for a new club," he has told the Bristol Evening Post.
"City have made that public and I didn't want to go into that free-for-all with no-one having seen me for four or five months.
"I need to come and play some games to put myself in the shop window.
"Teams are going to want to see you play, so that was one of the reasons for it.
"I want to play at Championship level. Every footballer wants to play at the best level they can, but we will have to see what comes up in the summer."