The Loan Report: August 16-22

With the season still only three weeks old, the loan report remains in its infancy, both in terms of the season overall, and the number of players being reported on.

As you will read below, however, that is very much subject to change. Before discussing potential moves though, let’s focus on those who have played.

With no midweek action to speak of, we dive straight into this weekend’s action, which was once again limited. Despite being arguably their best player during his Premier League loan spell, Jack Cork was once again left on Burnley’s substitute’s bench as they hosted Leicester City.

Brian Laws will feel vindicated with his squad selection as the Clarets ran out 3-0 winners, but Jack did at least make his first appearance of the campaign, replacing Dean Marney for the last twenty-five minutes. He has been allocated the number 6 shirt for the season, much better than last year’s 42.

Ryan Bertrand, meanwhile, was in familiar surroundings as Nottingham Forest visited Reading, where he spent the 2008/09 season. He was booked late in the match, which finished 1-1, but has quickly become a first team regular at the City Ground for Billy Davies’ promotion hopefuls.

It was a very good day for Rhys Taylor and Crewe, who bounced back from two league defeats to destroy sorry Barnet 7-0 at Gresty Road. As you may expect from such a scoreline, the Welshman had a quiet afternoon, so in the meantime, here’s a view from an Alex supporter on how Rhys is doing:

“Taylor is a far better goalkeeper than (Steve) Phillips. Based on what i’ve seen so far, I think Taylor could do a job for a decent League One side, maybe even Championship; he is far too good for us.

He’s an extremely competent shot-stopper, not much has gone past him, although his judgement of crosses is poor and has caused him to be caught in no-man’s land a few times.

Also, having seen both Taylor and Turnbull on loan, I’d have Taylor in my team every day of the week.

Daniel Philliskirk, meanwhile, was once again missing from Oxford United’s match day squad, having played alongside trialist Liam Bridcutt in a 1-1 reserve draw against Southend in midweek. He completed 72 minutes in the match at Didcot Town.

Ben Gordon’s home debut for Kilmarnock came on Sunday, as Killie hosted Motherwell, but a solitary goal from Nick Blackman consigned Mixu Paatelainen’s men to a second defeat in a row. He had an unremarkable match, but completed the full ninety minutes, which is paramount at this stage of his career.

Tomáš Kalas continues to play with Sigma Olomouc’s B team, and played 66 minutes in a 2-0 loss to FC Vysočina Jihlava. It is worth noting that in recent weeks the club have been using him as a holding midfielder instead of in his more recognised position in defence.

In other news, rumours in Holland this week have three young Blues heading to Vitesse Arnhem on loan for the season, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. New chairman Merab Jordania proclaimed on Saturday evening that Slobodan Rajkovic would be plying his trade for a third Dutch club (following PSV and FC Twente) and would be joined by Jacob Mellis.

Further reports included Nemanja Matic, and indeed, the Serbian pair were pictured at the Gelredome on Saturday night as their prospective club lost 3-0 to defending champions FC Twente. Mellis was not pictured but reported to have been there – therefore that part of the rumour remains uncertain.

It would be an extremely intriguing move for the England Under-19 international, not least because young English footballers rarely venture outside of the British Isles. However, after an up and down loan spell at Southampton last season, it would represent a huge step up and opportunity.

For Matic, the move is perhaps not as good as the idea of playing at Bologna in a stronger league, but if guaranteed more regualr action in the Eredivisie, it will surely be beneficial. Rajkovic must play elsewhere after failing to secure a work permit for a transfer to Fulham, and knows the league well.

We’ll finish, as we did most often last season, with Matej Delač, who turned 18 on Friday. Reaching the milestone age shed further light on his future, with Chelsea set to announce his whereabouts for 2010/11 in the next seven days. He believes he will be playing in The Championship, or in the Dutch or Belgian league.

No further information has been given other than the fact he will not be returning to Inter Zapresic, but rest assured, when the news is confirmed, you’ll hear about it first here at TheChels, and on Twitter @chelseayouth.