The Loan Report remains a small one this weekend with winter breaks still in full effect for many of those plying their trades elsewhere. With nobody having performed worthily enough of headline credit, we’ll begin by documenting the many moves already made in the early days of this January transfer window.
Headliners
Nathaniel Chalobah’s stay at Burnley has ended and he is back at Chelsea looking for alternative arrangements. There has already been concrete interest from teams both in the Championship and abroad and there will be a fair demand for the services of a proven young commodity hoping to earn genuine top-flight playing time.
John Swift and Alex Kiwomya have both joined League One clubs; Swift heading to Swindon until the end of the season whilst Kiwomya has embarked upon a first professional move to Barnsley, where he will initially spend a month. Alex Davey, meanwhile, has extended his stay with Scunthorpe until the end of the season.
Patrick Bamford will remain a Middlesbrough player for the duration of the campaign and he will soon be joined at the Riverside Stadium by Tomas Kalas, who has already joined up with Aitor Karanka’s squad following a failed first half of the season in Germany with Köln.
England
Ryan Bertrand remains the sole Premier League representative with Victor Moses still injured and Christian Atsu having left Everton to join up with Ghana ahead of the African Nations Cup. Bertrand played as well as ever in Southampton’s 2-0 win over Arsenal and then saw another full afternoon of action in their 1-1 FA Cup draw with Ipswich Town.
Bamford and Kenneth Omeruo played the full match as Middlesbrough beat Barnsley (without new boy Kiwomya) 2-0 in the FA Cup. Jamal Blackman was not in the squad and is expected to return to Chelsea for the time being at least, where he will resume his duties as third-choice goalkeeper following Mark Schwarzer’s expected move to Leicester City.
Swift made his Swindon Town debut away to Fleetwood and won a penalty within ten minutes of play. He had a very promising performance and earned the praise of manager Mark Cooper following the 2-2 draw.
Todd Kane saw 83 minutes in midfield again for Bristol City as they drew 1-1 at Doncaster in cup action. He also picked up a yellow card.
Spain
La Liga returned from a brief winter hiatus and Gael Kakuta picked up where he left off for Rayo Vallecano. The Frenchman laid on the assist for Baena’s winning goal in their 2-1 triumph over Getafe to reassert himself as arguably their most influential and important player.
Mario Pašalić put in a good showing over ninety minutes as Elche drew 2-2 with Villarreal, whilst in the second tier there was no Uli Dávila for Tenerife against Sporting Gijon after a controversial week in which the Mexican missed his flight back to the Canary Islands after Christmas and has been somewhat frozen out as a result.
France
It was French Cup weekend too but neither Matej Delač nor Joao Rodriguez saw any playing time. Delač was rested as Arles-Avignon lost 2-0 to Red Star, and Rodriguez, who hasn’t played since October anyway, is back in Colombia preparing to take part in the South American Under-20 Championships.
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