The Loan Report: March 26-31

Posted By on March 31, 2019

While many of Chelsea’s players continue to disappoint, several of those out on loan keep on doing things that lend volume to their cause of hopefully one day featuring in the Blues’ first team, again in some cases. With five different players scoring since the end of the international break, there are no shortage of contenders.

Headliners

Our first two goalscorers come from the Championship, but in both cases, the players in question should be Premier League footballers next season. They should also be in Chelsea colours but, alas, we know how this works by now. For the time being, Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount continue to do their thing, and they’re doing it very well.

It’s been a harder couple of months than usual for Abraham, who went into Saturday’s match against Blackburn with just one goal in his previous seven appearances. Far from playing badly, his previously prolific campaign had merely slowed a little, and he was duly back on top with the opening goal in a 2-1 win. It was his 50th goal in professional club football; all from inside the box, as was widely-noted afterwards. Goalscoring isn’t easy, as many of Chelsea’s recent centre-forwards of lore have discovered upon their arrival in SW6, so hats off to Tammy for reaching a tidy milestone by the age of 21.

Mount too has had to endure two months of struggles after limping out of Derby’s FA Cup win at Accrington with an injury that had sidelined him right up until this weekend. The Rams toiled without him, scoring just seven times in ten games in his absence, but plundered a 6-1 win against Rotherham with him finally restored to the team. He scored one and claimed assists for two more, and earned plenty of praise from manager Frank Lampard, while fellow loanee Fikayo Tomori was imperious at the back. To think, some people claimed he wasn’t a Championship centre-back at the start of the season…

Later on Saturday, Kurt Zouma scored his second goal of the season with a powerful header to help Everton on their way to a win at West Ham. It was a strong recovery by the Frenchman after a dubious outing at Newcastle before the international break but, in a way, that has come to define his career. His remarkable athleticism lends itself well to various acts of recovery to make up for initial mistakes, and it has been those recoveries that generate clips and highlights. Still too dubious under high balls for a centre-back, it will be interesting to see what comes of rumours linking Everton with a permanent move for him this summer.

Whereas Zouma may or may not come back, Alvaro Morata almost certainly isn’t, having joined Atlético Madrid on a loan deal until the summer of 2020. The return to more familiar climes has worked out well and, after notching twice for Spain against Malta on Tuesday, he scored his fourth goal for Atlético Madrid in a comfortable win against Alavés on Saturday night.

Mario Pašalić has spent five years in the loan system across five different countries and six different moves, so you can forgive him for wanting to settle down too, and that might yet be with Atalanta in Serie A after he scored his fifth goal of the season in a 3-1 at Parma. A €15m option to buy could prove too cheap to turn down.

England

Premier League

Michy Batshuayi played 77 minutes for Crystal Palace in a 2-0 win that officially relegated Huddersfield, while Kenedy and Newcastle are away to Arsenal on Monday night.

Championship

Reece James was named in the Championship Team of the Season this week, a composite eleven of the best players as voted by the 24 managers in the division. He was in his usual effervescent form in midfield for Wigan in a goalless draw against Brentford and almost scored one of the goals of the season.

https://twitter.com/slasherxfooty/status/1112014471189282816

Kasey Palmer provided one of the assists of the season as Bristol City staged a dramatic comeback to win 3-2 away to a Sheffield United team that had kept seven clean sheets in a row before kickoff. Jay Dasilva and Tomas Kalas played ninety minutes in a strong team effort, but it was Palmer’s sumptuous pass that unlocked the Blades’ defence for the late equaliser that would lead to an even later winner.

The Ashton Gate trio are still very much alive in the fight for the last two playoff spots in the Championship, with Villa and Derby currently occupying them, but a chasing pack of half a dozen teams also includes Michael Hector’s Sheffield Wednesday. Another top defensive effort saw the Owls keep a clean sheet away to Stoke, and it’s the Jamaican’s defensive nous that has been his calling-card this season according to analysis by good friend of the Loan Report, Ram Srinivas.

Lewis Baker and Matt Miazga continue to play their part in helping Reading in their fight against relegation, with both players coming in for praise for their commitment to the cause as loanees, but Trevoh Chalobah and Ipswich look doomed after a 2-0 defeat to Todd Kane’s Hull. Both players played from start to finish, and Chalobah is still being spoken about in glowing terms by manager Paul Lambert.

https://twitter.com/ChelseaLoanArmy/status/1111630209558740997

Izzy Brown helped Leeds United’s Under-23s clinch their regional league title earlier in the week but is yet to make more than a solitary substitute appearance for Marcelo Bielsa’s first team since coming back from injury.

League One

Dujon Sterling has, by and large, been very good for playoff-chasing Coventry City this season, but found the going harder than usual against a Barnsley side that look destined for Championship football one way or another next season. Both of their goals in their 2-2 draw came down his side, and the first started with his poor clearance, so it was a day to learn from and build upon.

Burton Albion had the weekend off owing to opponents Sunderland featuring in the Checkatrade Trophy Final, but there was still something to celebrate for Brad Collins, who was shortlisted for the Brewers’ Player of the Season award this week.

League Two

Nathan Baxter and Josh Grant saw manager Darren Way dismissed from Yeovil this week as the Glovers slide towards relegation, and a 3-1 defeat to Newport will have hardly done their cause any good as they are now just above the drop zone by virtue of a superior goal difference.

Jacob Maddox played the last ten minutes of Cheltenham’s 3-1 win at Crewe and, after being one of their more important players for much of the season, has had to make do with a place on the bench over the past month or so. Some sections of the support took issue with a family member promoting his talents on social media, which has done little to foster relations between player and fan, and while Jacob remains professional and diligent to the cause, it might be a surprise if he were to be anything other than a substitute option in the final six games of the campaign as politics continue to play a role.

Non-League

Jack Wakely helped Basingstoke Town to a 4-2 win away to Wimborne town while Ethan Wady, the Loan Army’s 43rd active member, kept his first clean sheet for ninth-tier Tooting & Mitcham United in a 1-0 win at Uxbridge.

Italy

Tiémoué Bakayoko was booked as Milan lost 1-0 to Sampdoria on Saturday, Lucas Piazon was (as usual) an unused substitute for Chievo against Cagliari, and Ola Aina missed Torino’s draw with Fiorentina due to injury.

Spain

Kenneth Omeruo missed Leganés win at Getafe through suspension but, like so many other loanees, used the international break to discuss the merits of his time in Spain and his desire to stay there if possible.

https://twitter.com/ChelseaLoanArmy/status/1110541266612187138

Josimar Quintero was an unused substitute as Lleida lost to Alcoyano.

Netherlands

Eduardo and Jake Clarke-Salter were involved in a topsy-turvy game as Vitesse drew 3-3 at ADO Den Haag; teenage striker Thomas Buitink – who was linked with Chelsea three years ago – became the youngest player to ever score an Eredivisie hat-trick.

Fankaty Dabo, who picked up another slight injury last weekend, was an unused substitute for Sparta Rotterdam on Friday.

Belgium

Kylian Hazard was substituted at half time during Cercle Brugge’s 3-1 defeat away to Union S-G.

Germany

Dortmund beat Wolfsburg 2-0 to go top of the Bundesliga ahead of next weekend’s likely title-decider against Bayern Munich, but they did it without Christian Pulisic, who injured his quad on international duty with the United States and could be out for up to a month.

France

Victorien Angban played ninety minutes as Metz beat Lorient 2-1 to move eight points clear at the top of Ligue 2 with eight games remaining, and eleven points clear in terms of automatic promotion.

Baba Rahman and Reims had no Ligue 1 fixture this week.

Turkey

There was no Turkish league action this week either, so Victor Moses was off duty.

Serbia

Danilo Pantic played 82 minutes as Partizan lost 1-0 to Napredak.

Northern Ireland

There was heartbreak for Jared Thompson and Warrenpoint Town as they were denied a place in the Irish Cup Final after losing 5-4 on penalties to Ballinamallard. The Chelsea goalkeeper had kept a clean sheet during the goalless draw but ended up on the losing side in one of the club’s biggest matches in recent history.

Brazil

Nathan was not in Atlético-MG’s squad for their goalless state championship draw at Boa.

Statistics

Started: July 14th
Final: May 29th

Player Club League FA Cup League Cup Europe/Cont Other Mins
Played 		Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Tammy Abraham Aston Villa 40 26 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3450 40 26
Ola Aina Torino 30 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2275 32 1
Victorien Angban Metz 25 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2056 29 1
Tiemoue Bakayoko Milan 30 1 2 0 0 0 6 0 1 0 2972 38 1
Lewis Baker Leeds United 11 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 491 14 0
Lewis Baker Reading 19 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1497 19 1
Michy Batshuayi Valencia 15 1 2 0 0 0 5 1 0 0 952 22 2
Michy Batshuayi Crystal Palace 11 5 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 923 12 6
Isaiah Brown Leeds United 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 2 0
Trevoh Chalobah Ipswich Town 43 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3273 44 2
Jake Clarke-Salter Vitesse 28 1 4 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 2895 36 1
Charlie Colkett Shrewsbury Town 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 306 6 0
Fankaty Dabo Sparta Rotterdam 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1625 24 0
Jay Dasilva Bristol City 28 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2383 32 0
Josh Grant Yeovil 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 720 8 0
Kylian Hazard Cercle Brugge 21 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1116 21 4
Michael Hector Sheffield Wednesday 36 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3242 37 2
Reece James Wigan Athletic 45 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4005 46 3
Tomas Kalas Bristol City 39 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3586 40 0
Todd Kane Hull City 39 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3363 40 3
Kenedy Newcastle United 24 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1529 26 1
Jacob Maddox Cheltenham Town 38 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 2 3 3077 43 4
Mason Mount Derby County 37 9 2 0 4 2 0 0 0 0 3745 42 11
Matt Miazga Nantes 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 810 9 0
Matt Miazga Reading 18 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1620 18 0
Alvaro Morata Atlético Madrid 15 6 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1245 17 6
Victor Moses Fenerbahce 14 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1076 15 4
Charly Musonda Vitesse Arnhem 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 1 0
Nathan Atletico Mineiro 11 1 1 0 0 0 5 0 5 1 835 22 2
Kenneth Omeruo Leganés 26 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2434 28 0
Kasey Palmer Blackburn Rovers 15 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 984 17 3
Kasey Palmer Bristol City 15 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 538 16 2
Danilo Pantic Partizan Belgrade 29 6 3 1 0 0 7 1 0 0 3043 40 8
Mario Pašalić Atalanta 32 5 5 2 0 0 4 1 0 0 2047 40 8
Lucas Piazón Chievo 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 81 4 0
Christian Pulisic Dortmund 9 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 651 11 4
Josimar Quintero Lleida 16 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 693 18 0
Baba Rahman Schalke 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 327 4 0
Baba Rahman Reims 11 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 965 11 1
Joao Rodriguez Tenerife 12 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 447 12 1
Ruben Sammut Falkirk 12 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 967 15 0
Kyle Scott Telstar 14 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 995 14 2
Dujon Sterling Coventry City 38 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3307 39 0
Fikayo Tomori Derby County 46 1 4 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 4692 54 2
Iké Ugbo Scunthorpe United 15 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 936 16 1
Jack Wakely Basingstoke Town 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1355 16 0
Kurt Zouma Everton 32 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2838 34 2
Total 82392 1124 115



Player Club League FA Cup League Cup Europe Other Mins
Played 		Total
Apps Cln Sht Apps Cln Sht Apps Cln Sht Apps Cln Sht Apps Cln Sht Apps Cln Sht
Nathan Baxter Yeovil Town 35 10 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 3420 38 11
Jamal Blackman Leeds United 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 180 2 0
Brad Collins Burton Albion 31 10 1 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 3115 35 11
Eduardo Vitesse 29 4 3 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 3060 34 5
Jared Thompson Warrenpoint 10 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1170 13 4
Ethan Wady Tooting & Mitcham United 7 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 810 9 3
Karlo Ziger Sutton United 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 90 1 0
Total 11845 132 34