Two members of the Loan Army who are unlikely to ever actually return to play for Chelsea scored this week but, nevertheless, they’re deserving of this week’s headlines.
Headliners
Lucas Piazon has had another frustrating in what, in all honesty, must be a fairly frustrating career so far. 2020 has been kinder though and, after scoring in the league for Rio Ave last weekend, he netted a free kick away to Benfica in the Portuguese Cup to continue riding the rest of a wave.
Tiémoué Bakayoko is attempting to revive his career back at Monaco after his Chelsea move also went south and has generally done very well for them this season. They were beaten 4-1 by PSG in midweek, but not before the powerful midfielder scored his first of the season.
England
Premier League
Danny Drinkwater played 68 minutes for Aston Villa in a 1-1 draw at Brighton, which genuinely resembles real progress for him.
Championship
Conor Gallagher needed just nineteen minutes of his Swansea City debut to make his presence felt in south Wales as he laid on the assist for Rhian Brewster’s first goal in black and white. It helped them to a 2-1 win over a Wigan Athletic team still without the injured Dujon Sterling, while Marc Guehi was an unused substitute for the Swans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgp-W0HORQ
Trevoh Chalobah continued in midfield as Huddersfield held promotion-chasing Brentford to a 0-0 draw and Jake Clarke-Salter was back in the Birmingham City defence for 90 minutes as they drew with Cardiff. Matt Miazga was an unused substitute for Reading, and Izzy Brown is still out injured for Luton but is now back in light training.
League One
Richard Nartey played the last quarter of an hour for Burton in their midweek win over Milton Keynes as he works his way back from a recent minor injury.
League Two
Josh Grant played the last three minutes of Plymouth’s 3-1 win over Mansfield Town.
Italy
Atalanta host SPAL on Monday night as Mario Pašalić and company continue to challenge at the top of Serie A. Davide Zappacosta remains on the comeback trail from long-term injury.
Spain
Kenedy and Baba Rahman once again went a week without involvement for their respective clubs.
Germany
Ethan Ampadu was an unused substitute as Leipzig resumed Bundesliga festivities against Union Berlin, but Lewis Baker wasn’t involved for Fortuna Dusseldorf and will likely find a new loan home before the month is over.
Netherlands
Vitesse beat Fortuna Sittard on Saturday without Jamal Blackman, who has left the club to return to England, where a new move awaits him.
Nizaar Kinsella also offered an update on Charly Musonda’s injury recovery this week.
Two years on from Charly Musonda's last Chelsea appearance I look at what went wrong with interviews from his coaches Gus Poyet and Yannick Ferrera #CFC https://t.co/B2ND6Dkpum
— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) January 18, 2020
Juan Castillo and Iké Ugbo both have to wait until Monday night for their Eerste Divisie fixtures this week.
Scotland
Nathan Baxter and Ross County are still on their winter break.
Turkey
Victor Moses’ injury kept him out of Fenerbahce’s first league fixture of 2020, a 2-0 win away to Gaziantep.
Hungary
The OTP Bank Liga remains on winter hiatus, therefore so does Danilo Pantic.
Brazil
Nathan and Atlético-MG get their Mineirao State Championship schedule underway this week; the forward is expected to extend his Chelsea contract and arrange a new half-year loan to the Brazilian club.
Statistics
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