Three more goals take us closer to the milestone of fifty for the Chelsea loanee season to date, with two amongst them notching for the first time this campaign and one marking his maiden strike in professional football. We start with him.
Headliners
Charly Musonda caught the eye and then some on his Real Betis debut last weekend and continued to get people talking about him by scoring his first goal for the club this Saturday away to Deportivo. It was an unusual way for the slight midfielder to open his account in the adult game; a smartly-taken header arriving late to meet a cross from the left.
He didn’t necessarily sparkle quite as much as he did a week earlier but the fixture was considerably tougher yet he didn’t look out of place. He’s been entrusted with a broad attacking role allowing him to move about the pitch with creative licence, and has completed both matches with energy and stamina to spare. It’s been an exceptionally pleasing start for a player who has often been touted as someone to likely shine when given the opportunity.
Marco van Ginkel, meanwhile, has found his return to Dutch football rather to his liking, even if early signs are that he’s playing at a standard far below his ability these days. Already a standout midfielder at Vitesse when he left for Chelsea, he’s slotted back in at PSV and grabbed a goal in each of his first two league matches. The latest came away to Todd Kane’s NEC Nijmegen in a 3-0 win that made easy work of NEC’s previously staunch defence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Am8JpHuYSo
Kane, who serves as NEC’s vice-captain these days, did play the full match and – again – picked up a yellow card.
The third loan goalscorer this week was Papy Djilobodji, who weighed in with Werder Bremen’s equaliser in a 1-1 draw at home to relegation-troubled Hoffenheim. The Senegalese defender has been…busy…in most of his Bundesliga outings so far, in both a positive and negative light, but helped his team earn a point here.
England
Nathan Aké was impressive for Watford in a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace, putting in good work at both ends of the pitch and helping to keep the Hornets in the top half of the Premier League. Over at Carrow Road, meanwhile, Patrick Bamford and Victor Moses were substitutes as Norwich hosted West Ham but whilst Moses came on shortly after the hour mark to assist the Hammers in a two-goal comeback to earn a point, Bamford remained unused.
In the Championship, Tomas Kalas picked up a long-overdue ninety minutes in Middlesbrough’s 1-1 draw at MK Dons in midweek and will hope to be involved again on Monday night for the trip to Leeds United. Reading drew 0-0 at home to Burnley with starts for both Michael Hector (90 minutes) and Lucas Piazon (63 minutes) but John Swift was an unused substitute for a struggling Brentford, who lost 4-0 at Sheffield Wednesday without him.
Alex Kiwomya played the last ten minutes of another goalless draw for Fleetwood away to Port Vale in League One, whilst Mitchell Beeney was an unused substitute for Newport County in their 1-0 win at home to Carlisle.
Netherlands
Vitesse bounced back to winning form this weekend with an impressive 3-0 victory over Heerenveen at the Gelredome, but it came with a reduced impact from the Chelsea quartet stationed at the club. With Dominic Solanke still struggling with an achilles injury picked up a fortnight ago and Izzy Brown having suffered a muscular strain last time out, only Lewis Baker started for Rob Maas’ team against their Frisian visitors.
He played as well as he has done in recent weeks, laying on two clear goalscoring chances that weren’t taken but Vitesse still picked up all three points courtesy of two Valeri Qazaishvili goals and one from Denys Oliynyk. Nathan came off the bench with a quarter of an hour remaining to minimal impact, Danilo Pantic was an unused substitute, and results elsewhere mean they’re now back up to fifth in the Eredivisie standings.
Germany
Andreas Christensen came back down to earth this week after scoring a rare brace of goals against Bremen last time out; he and the rest of the Borussia Mönchengladbach side weren’t at their best in a 3-2 defeat away to Hamburg on Sunday.
Spain
In a frustrating development, Christian Atsu picked up a minor knock after scoring on his Málaga debut last weekend and was absent from their squad that lost to Villarreal on Saturday.
Italy
Juan Cuadrado started for Juventus in their monumental top-of-the-Serie-A-table match against Napoli on Saturday night and he turned in an industrious and professional ninety minutes, culminating in a late Simone Zaza winner for Juventus. Nathaniel Chalobah was an unused substitute for the visitors, as was Stipe Perica for an Udinese side beaten 1-0 by Bologna on Sunday.
France
Mario Pašalić played his almost-customary three-quarters of a match for Monaco once again, claiming 67 minutes in their 1-1 draw at Saint-Etienne, but Jeremie Boga was left out of the matchday squad by Rennes manager Rolland Courbis as they defeated Angers 1-0 on Friday night.
Belgium
Sint-Truiden were without all three Chelsea players this weekend with Victorien Angban still suspended and both Joao Rodriguez and Cristian Cuevas injured, whilst the situation with Cristian Manea and Mouscron is a lot less clear after revelations in the Romanian press this week. His official registration is reportedly held by Apollon Limassol, a Cypriot club owned by Pini Zahavi, the agent who also owns Mouscron. Several players are involved in the situation and whilst Manea appears to believe himself to be a Chelsea player, there is little clear evidence to suggest that he is.
For the time being and until the waters aren’t quite as muddied, he will not appear in future editions of this Loan Report.
Turkey
Kenneth Omeruo played the full match as Kasimpasa lost 3-1 at Fenerbahce on Friday night, whilst Marko Marin and Trabzonspor have a Monday night date at home to Kayserispor.
Brazil
Wallace picked up a slight injury this week and is likely to miss a couple of matches for Gremio over the next few weeks.