A quiet week on the loan front gives us the opportunity to take stock of affairs we approach the final day of the transfer window. Three new faces have joined the Loan Army ranks over the past seven days, and more are set to follow, bringing an end to another hectic summer of comings and goings.
Headliners
Tiémoué Bakayoko is going home. Two years after an expensive and protracted transfer from Monaco to Chelsea, he returns to the Principality on a season-long deal that comes with a €35m option to buy next summer. Never quite at home in West London, he performed well at Milan last term, but will be hoping to reignite his career at the club where he enjoyed his best spell.
Juan Castillo had been expected to depart the academy on a free transfer earlier in the summer, before doing a late u-turn, and signing a new three-year deal. Yet, his eventual exit has come to pass, as he returns to Ajax on an initial year-long loan that also has an option for it to become permanent. Brought up through the ranks at De Toekomst, his three years at Cobham have been very impressive, and he’s now ready to show the Eredivisie what he can do, while having the chance to play against Chelsea in the Champions League.
https://twitter.com/AFCAjax/status/1167421972273344513
Danilo Pantic, meanwhile, heads to the Hungarian top flight for his fifth move away from Stamford Bridge, and links up with MOL Fehérvar for the season to come. Formerly known as MOL Vidi, and Videoton before that, they were one of the teams Chelsea overcame en route to Europa League victory last year, but defeat to Vaduz in this year’s qualifiers means there will be no return to the competition this time around.
https://twitter.com/ChelseaLoanArmy/status/1168125213835313154
Lucas Piazon, Baba Rahman and Kenedy will all be seeking deadline-day deals rather than sit out the next four months without worrying the first team picture in SW6. Piazon has been closely-linked to a two-year stay at Rio Ave, while Kenedy’s name continues to be connected with Sassuolo in Serie A, where Jeremie Boga plies his trade, as well as late interest from Getafe. Baba has interest from across Europe after proving his fitness with Reims between January and May, and all three should secure the moves they need in time.
England
Premier League
Danny Drinkwater made his Burnley debut in their midweek League Cup exit to Sunderland. The Clarets were much-changed from their usual league selection, and despite playing ninety minutes, the England midfielder is still short of full match fitness.
Championship
There was no goal this week for Conor Gallagher, but he played his part in helping Jonathan Leko open the scoring in Charlton’s 2-0 win at Reading. Matt Miazga missed that as well as the Royals’ midweek cup appointment with the injury he suffered last weekend, and while it doesn’t appear to be serious, no risks are being taken.
Izzy Brown logged his first ninety minutes in a Luton Town shirt with a confidence display in a 3-0 League Cup win at Cardiff, and added 38 more minutes to that as he came off the bench on Saturday to lift his new team to a 2-1 victory over his former loan club Huddersfield Town, for whom Trevoh Chalobah played the full match.
Jake Clarke-Salter is still on the outside looking in at Birmingham, finding himself limited to playing for their Under-23 team, and Dujon Sterling remains curiously absent at Wigan too.
League One
Richard Nartey played the final half an hour of Burton’s 2-0 league win over Bristol Rovers on Saturday to go on top of his quarter of an hour against Morecambe in the cup four days earlier. Manager Nigel Clough is bringing him back to fitness sensibly after hurting his ankle in pre-season, and appears to have plenty of confidence that he can be an asset to the team.
Luke McCormick played the last two minutes of Shrewsbury’s 3-0 defeat at Ipswich; the changes in midfield failing to pay dividends against the league leaders. Jacob Maddox, meanwhile, continues to wait for his Tranmere debut.
League Two
Josh Grant played 71 League Cup minutes against Championship side Reading in midweek, good enough to earn him his league debut on Saturday against Northampton, where he came on as a half-time substitute after his Plymouth team had conceded three first half goals. That they shipped no more after his arrival will do his cause no harm whatsoever.
Germany
Lewis Baker was an unused substitute for Fortuna Dusseldorf at Eintracht Frankfurt, as was Ethan Ampadu in RB Leipzig’s win at Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday.
Italy
Mario Pašalić played 63 minutes as Atalanta were beaten 3-2 at home by Torino, while Davide Zappacosta missed the Rome derby versus Lazio after picking up an injury during the warm-up.
Netherlands
With Charly Musonda sidelined through injury at Vitesse, and Castillo having only just arrived at Ajax, Iké Ugbo was the sole loanee in Dutch action this weekend. He completed all ninety minutes as Roda lost 1-0 to MVV.
Scotland
Nathan Baxter is injured.
Turkey
Victor Moses is injured.
Brazil
Nathan was an unused substitute as Atlético-MG beat La Equidad in the Copa Sudamericana in midweek. He’s next in action a few hours after this report was published, away to Corinthians in Serie A action.
Statistics
Started: August 1st 2019
Finished: August 1st 2020
| 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 | |||
| Ethan Ampadu | RB Leipzig | 0 (3) | 0 | 1 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 297 | 2 (4) | 0 |
| Tiemoue Bakayoko | Monaco | 20 | 1 | 1 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1910 | 21 (1) | 1 |
| Lewis Baker | Fortuna Dusseldorf | 6 (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 562 | 7 (1) | 0 |
| Charlie Brown | Union SG | 2 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 152 | 2 (1) | 0 |
| Isaiah Brown | Luton Town | 16 (8) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1517 | 18 (8) | 1 |
| Juan Castillo | Ajax | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 1800 | 20 | 0 |
| Trevoh Chalobah | Huddersfield Town | 30 (6) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2923 | 30 (6) | 1 |
| Jake Clarke-Salter | Birmingham City | 18 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1873 | 23 | 1 |
| Danny Drinkwater | Burnley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 149 | 2 | 0 |
| Danny Drinkwater | Aston Villa | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 207 | 3 | 0 |
| Conor Gallagher | Charlton Athletic | 25 (1) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2220 | 25 (1) | 6 |
| Conor Gallagher | Swansea City | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1847 | 21 | 0 |
| Josh Grant | Plymouth | 17 (5) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (1) | 0 | 2075 | 23 (6) | 0 |
| Marc Guehi | Swansea City | 13 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1177 | 13 (1) | 0 |
| Kenedy | Getafe | 3 (16) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 (4) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 942 | 7 (20) | 3 |
| Jacob Maddox | Tranmere Rovers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 165 | 2 | 0 |
| Jacob Maddox | Southampton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Luke McCormick | Shrewsbury Town | 4 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (2) | 0 | 382 | 5 (3) | 0 |
| George McEachran | Cambuur | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 0 (2) | 0 |
| Matt Miazga | Reading | 19 (1) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1758 | 21 (1) | 2 |
| Victor Moses | Fenerbahce | 6 | 1 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 514 | 6 (1) | 1 |
| Victor Moses | Inter | 4 (8) | 0 | 1 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 597 | 7 (10) | 0 |
| Charly Musonda | Vitesse Arnhem | 0 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 65 | 0 (3) | 0 |
| Richard Nartey | Burton Albion | 21 (6) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 2049 | 23 (8) | 0 |
| Nathan | Atlético-MG | 9 (6) | 3 | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1174 | 13 (8) | 3 |
| Danilo Pantic | MOL Fehervar | 3 (4) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 412 | 6 (4) | 0 |
| Mario Pašalić | Atalanta | 20 (3) | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 (2) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2292 | 25 (4) | 7 |
| Lucas Piazon | Rio Ave | 13 (5) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1422 | 16 (5) | 4 |
| Baba Rahman | Mallorca | 1 (1) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 379 | 4 (1) | 0 |
| Dujon Sterling | Wigan Athletic | 7 (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 750 | 8 (1) | 0 |
| Iké Ugbo | Roda JC | 25 (2) | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2351 | 26 (2) | 13 |
| Davide Zappacosta | Roma | 3 (6) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 458 | 3 (6) | 0 |
| Total | 34460 | 382 (107) | 43 | |||||||||||
| 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 | Ross County | 14 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1260 | 14 | 3 |
| Jamal Blackman | Vitesse Arnhem | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jamal Blackman | Bristol Rovers | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 810 | 9 | 2 |
| Total | 2070 | 23 | 5 | |||||||||||
Covid-19
Several league campaigns were curtailed earlier than expected due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. Numbers for those players are assumed to be as of the formal end of that respective season; whether the stats officially count or not, we will take them as having happened.