We return to club football after an extended international break and whilst things haven’t changed dramatically on the loan front, we do have a goal to bring you this weekend.
Headliners
It comes from the Eredivisie and is courtesy of Burkina Faso international winger Bertrand Traore. He netted the second of four Vitesse goals in a comfortable 4-1 win away to Willem II (with former blue Ben Sahar providing the consolation for the hosts) and did so with a lovely low effort that whistled into the bottom corner.
Bertrand Traoré by goalsandmore
Traore played 78 minutes whilst Brazilian full-back Wallace completed the full outing. Josh McEachran was not match fit after suffering a complaint during a reserve outing and missed the fixture.
England
Ryan Bertrand played a full ninety minutes as Southampton embarrassed Sunderland 8-0. The fixture also saw Chelsea academy graduates Jack Cork, Patrick van Aanholt and Liam Bridcutt on the pitch.
Nathaniel Chalobah made his return from a nasty throat injury by playing ten or so minutes from the bench as Burnley lost 1-3 to West Ham. Christian Atsu was an unused substitute for Everton versus Aston Villa but Victor Moses started and played 73 minutes for Stoke against Swansea and won a controversial first-half penalty, leaving Swansea manager Garry Monk to accuse him of diving.
In The Championship, Patrick Bamford and Jamal Blackman were unused substitutes for Middlesbrough at Brighton whilst Kenneth Omeruo was absent after returning later from duty with Nigeria. Football League sides face nine games in twenty-nine days so each will get their share of action in the coming month.
John Swift might not though; he was an unused substitute for Rotherham at home to Leeds and has now surpassed two months without playing minutes in the league.
Germany
Thorgan Hazard might have only been given nine minutes from the bench for Borussia Mönchengladbach at Hannover but he used his time wisely, helping lay on a goal for Max Kruse to seal a 3-0 win.
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Lucas Piazon started for Eintracht Frankfurt at Paderborn but was on the wrong side of a disappointing 3-1 defeat to the newly-promoted upstarts.
Oriol Romeu played the full match for Stuttgart as they came from three down to earn a 3-3 draw at home to Leverkusen, whilst Tomas Kalas was an unused substitute as Köln beat Dortmund 2-1.
Spain
Gael Kakuta played the full match for Rayo Vallecano as they beat Granada 1-0 on Friday to mark their best start to a La Liga season. The Frenchman also gave an insightful interview this weekend that talks about where he’s come from and what he hopes to happen next in his career.
Mario Pašalić was an unused sub for Elche vs Sevilla.
Uli Dávila, who played for Tenerife over the international period, was an unused substitute in their defeat at Osasuna.
Italy
Fernando Torres played 69 minutes for Milan at Chievo whilst Marco van Ginkel isn’t quite ready to return from injury.
Marko Marin remains absent for Fiorentina through a lack of fitness.
Netherlands
Stipe Perica served the first match of his four-game ban for being sent off against Heracles last time out. He had an additional match added to his suspension after receiving a suspended sentence for another violent conduct offence last term.
His cause at NAC Breda was not helped over the past fortnight by the sacking of manager Nebojsa Gudelj. The presence of a Serbian manager and Bosnian assistant was part of the season for sending the young Croatian there as it helped him settle in a whole lot quicker but things might prove harder for him under whoever is hired as Gudelj’s replacement, not least because Perica is not exactly the typical Eredivisie forward.
France
Joao Rodriguez played ten minutes for Bastia in a 1-0 win at Nice but Matej Delač did not play for Arles-Avignon against Ajaccio.
Greece
Islam Feruz did not feature for OFI Crete in their 2-1 win at Panathinaikos.
Chile
Cristian Cuevas remains some way off contributing for Universidad de Chile and was not involved in their headline clash with Colo Colo.