We’re back for a new season! No fewer than 25 Chelsea players have already secured themselves loan moves for the 2017-18 season and, with the English Football League getting underway this weekend, the Loan Report returns to keep tabs on each and every one of them.
Headliners
The most notable performance of the opening day of the campaign belonged to Jamal Blackman, who helped Sheffield United to a winning start on their return to Championship football with a clean sheet and a 1-0 win over Brentford. The 23 year-old custodian was a star for Wycombe in League Two last term and earned himself a move to the Blades, where he has immediately been installed as the first-choice stopper in the absence of the injured Simon Moore.
He staked his claim for the starters’ gloves regardless when Moore returns with a string of fine saves to get Chris Wilders’ team off to the best of starts.
Elsewhere this week we saw Marco van Ginkel – now captain at PSV in his third spell on loan there – exit the Europa League in the qualifying rounds following an aggregate defeat at the hands of Croatian side NK Osijek. Losing European football in early August is a blow all round and leaves Van Ginkel with no alternative but to focus on domestic matters now.
England
Championship
Iké Ugbo made his senior debut for Barnsley away to Bristol City, where Tammy Abraham was a massive hit in 2016-17, and although he is being touted as being able to have the same sort of impact at Oakwell, it was a quiet start as City ran out 3-1 winners.
Tomas Kalas and Lucas Piazon both returned to Fulham for a second year looking to help them go one better and secure promotion back to the Premier League. Kalas started their opener against Norwich whilst Piazon remained an unused substitute as the spoils were shared 1-1 at Craven Cottage.
Later the same evening, Ola Aina and Michael Hector took on John Terry’s Aston Villa and claimed a deserved point in a 1-1 draw of their own. Aina had a busy ninety minutes at full-back, influencing the game at both ends of the field and displaying plenty of positives alongside one or two shaky moments, whilst Hector cut a more composed and reliable presence at the heart of the Tigers’ defence.
As many as three more Blues could yet make the move to the KCOMM Stadium before the transfer window closes, with Jake Clarke-Salter, Fikayo Tomori, Lewis Baker and Jeremie Boga all linked with the Tigers as Russian manager Leonid Slutskiy seeks to fully utilise his strong relationship with the Chelsea hierarchy.
League One
Jay Dasilva had to bid his time for more than two months before getting a real crack at regular football down at Charlton Athletic last season. By the time May came around, however, he’d made himself undroppable at left-back and so returned to The Valley for 17-18 pencilled into the starting eleven once again. He received positive reviews for his display against Bristol Rovers on Saturday as the Addicks picked up their first win of what they hope will be a much better season this time around.
League Two
Amongst the legion of goalkeepers Chelsea have out on loan is Brad Collins, who made his senior professional debut on Saturday for the newest – and smallest – Football League team. Forest Green Rovers drew 2-2 with Barnet at The New Lawn, with Collins unfortunate to concede the first, yet the second is one he might want back.
That he earned the confidence of Mark Cooper to start the season ahead of veteran Sam Russell, who played every minute of their promotion-winning National League season a year ago, bodes well however.
Non-League
Nathan Baxter made significant strides at the Met Police and at Solihull Moors last season and is back in the fifth tier again for a year down at Woking. He got off to a good start with a 2-1 win over Gateshead and a confident display belying his tender eighteen years.
In an effort to continue learning the lessons from Baxter’s development over the past year, Chelsea have also sent Jared Thompson out into the men’s game before even properly establishing himself in Under-23 football, securing a season-long stay at National League South side Chippenham Town. A debut clean sheet in a goalless draw against Havant and Waterlooville will give him plenty of early confidence.
Netherlands
The Dutch season kicked off with the Super Cup or, to use its official title, the Johan Cruijff Schaal. Vitesse, as the Dutch Cup winners, took on Feyenoord in their De Kuip Stadium rather than the traditional venue of the Amsterdam ArenA and, like Chelsea, lost on penalties following a 1-1 draw.
Fankaty Dabo played the full ninety minutes at right-back and recovered well after a nervous start, whilst there was a quarter of an hour for Charlie Colkett, who scored successfully from the spot in the shootout. Mason Mount and Matt Miazga were both unused substitutes having joined up with the squad later in pre-season, but are more likely to be involved against NAC Breda in the Eredivisie opener next Saturday.
Russia
Chelsea have a pair of midfielders plying their trade in the Russian Premier League this year; Mario Pašalić leads the way at Spartak Moscow whilst Josimar Quintero will seek to continue his progress down at FC Rostov.
Quintero is yet to make his debut though, remaining an unused substitute in Rostov’s last three fixtures, but Pašalić went straight into Massimo Carrera’s squad for the big trip to Zenit St Petersburg on Sunday. He was a substitute on a day to forget, getting fifteen minutes from the bench in a 5-1 defeat.
Belgium
Victorien Angban is back in the Belgian Pro League, where he spent 2015-16 with Sint-Truiden, but can now be found over at Waasland-Beveren, who have also secured an option to make the Ivorian midfielder’s stay a permanent one. A minor injury has curtailed his involvement so far, with his debut likely to come later this month.
Serbia
Danilo Pantic netted the first – and so far only – goal of the loan season to date for Partizan Belgrade as the Serbian season kicked off in mid-July, but in a week in which he and they were knocked out of the Champions League by Olympiacos, he then started away to FK Spartak and helped them to a 1-0 win to keep them top of the league.
Statistics/span>
Started: July 15th
Finished: May 26th
| Player | Club | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe/Cont | Other | Mins Played | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Tammy Abraham | Swansea City | 30 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1971 | 37 | 8 |
| Ola Aina | Hull City | 44 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4003 | 47 | 1 |
| Victorien Angban | Waasland-Beveren | 30 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2349 | 31 | 1 |
| Lewis Baker | Middlesbrough | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 790 | 14 | 2 |
| Michy Batshuayi | Dortmund | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1169 | 14 | 9 |
| Jeremie Boga | Birmingham City | 30 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2190 | 33 | 2 |
| Isaiah Brown | Brighton | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 401 | 15 | 0 |
| Jake Clarke-Salter | Sunderland | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 490 | 9 | 0 |
| Charlie Colkett | Vitesse Arnhem | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 293 | 11 | 0 |
| Cristian Cuevas | FC Twente | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1968 | 24 | 0 |
| Fankaty Dabo | Vitesse Arnhem | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2625 | 33 | 0 |
| Jay Dasilva | Charlton Athletic | 39 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3483 | 43 | 0 |
| Marco van Ginkel | PSV | 28 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2874 | 33 | 16 |
| Michael Hector | Hull City | 36 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3054 | 37 | 1 |
| Jordan Houghton | Doncaster Rovers | 37 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3170 | 39 | 1 |
| Tomas Kalas | Fulham | 35 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2609 | 36 | 0 |
| Todd Kane | Groningen | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 571 | 10 | 0 |
| Todd Kane | Oxford United | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1530 | 17 | 3 |
| Kenedy | Newcastle United | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 869 | 11 | 2 |
| Ruben Loftus-Cheek | Crystal Palace | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1965 | 25 | 2 |
| Matt Miazga | Vitesse Arnhem | 36 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3659 | 43 | 4 |
| Mason Mount | Vitesse Arnhem | 32 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2915 | 39 | 14 |
| Charly Musonda | Celtic | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 335 | 8 | 0 |
| Nathan | Amiens | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 85 | 2 | 0 |
| Nathan | Belenenses | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 496 | 13 | 2 |
| Kenneth Omeruo | Kasimpasa | 27 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2407 | 27 | 1 |
| Kasey Palmer | Huddersfield Town | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 243 | 5 | 0 |
| Kasey Palmer | Derby County | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 473 | 16 | 2 |
| Danilo Pantic | Partizan Belgrade | 31 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3146 | 46 | 5 |
| Mario Pašalić | Spartak Moscow | 21 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1656 | 30 | 5 |
| Lucas Piazon | Fulham | 23 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1360 | 25 | 6 |
| Josimar Quintero | FC Rostov | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 0 |
| Josimar Quintero | Real Betis B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 63 | 5 | 0 |
| Baba Rahman | Schalke | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 1 | 0 |
| Joao Rodriguez | Tampico Madero | 21 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1727 | 23 | 8 |
| Fikayo Tomori | Hull City | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2152 | 26 | 0 |
| Iké Ugbo | Barnsley | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 909 | 18 | 1 |
| Iké Ugbo | Milton Keynes | 16 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1161 | 17 | 2 |
| Kurt Zouma | Stoke City | 33 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3038 | 34 | 1 |
| Total | 64255 | 898 | 99 | |||||||||||
| Player | Club | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Mins Played | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Cln Sht | Apps | Cln Sht | Apps | Cln Sht | Apps | Cln Sht | Apps | Cln Sht | Apps | Cln Sht | |||
| Nathan Baxter | Woking | 42 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4320 | 48 | 7 |
| Mitchell Beeney | Sligo Rovers | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 990 | 11 | 2 |
| Jamal Blackman | Sheffield United | 30 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2727 | 32 | 9 |
| Brad Collins | Forest Green Rovers | 40 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3839 | 43 | 8 |
| Jared Thompson | Chippenham Town | 40 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3960 | 44 | 11 |
| Total | 15746 | 177 | 37 | |||||||||||