The turbulence of the January transfer window has already made an impact on the loan army at Chelsea, for both good and bad, as this week’s report shall duly reveal.
Headliners
For Kasey Palmer, it has most certainly been positive. Out of favour and unable to earn regular playing time at Blackburn in the first half of the season, he swapped Lancashire blue for Bristol red, and joined Bristol City for the rest of the campaign. City are battling for a playoff spot, Rovers are firmly in mid-table, so make of that what you will.
Linking up with fellow Chelsea players Tomas Kalas and Jay Dasilva, he made an instant impact in scoring the winning goal in their 2-1 win over Bolton on Saturday. All three were impressive in their own ways, and City could be a team to watch very closely between now and May.
Kurt Zouma has had relative stability by comparison at Everton, and grabbed his first goal for the Toffees in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Bournemouth to lift the club into the top half of the table.
England
Premier League
Kenedy was ineligible for Newcastle’s trip to Chelsea.
Championship
The big loanee head-to-head of the weekend saw Reece James’ Wigan face Tammy Abraham’s Aston Villa. Wigan won 3-0, Abraham missed a big early chance, and James was as terrific as ever. A cursory twitter search whenever Wigan are in action is testament to the esteem in which he’s held at the DW Stadium, so we can but look forward to seeing how Chelsea ruin his development ahead of next season.
Dunno about Tammy Abraham, Reece James best @ChelseaFC loanee on view today. Outstanding. Some prospect. pic.twitter.com/InpOKmmqO1
— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) January 12, 2019
https://twitter.com/dumidrexel/status/1083402592795967488
Derby’s trip to Leeds on Friday night was marred by allegations of spying from the hosts ahead of the match, but Leeds were a class apart on the night, sending Fikayo Tomori and Mason Mount – who turned 20 this week – to a 2-0 defeat.
Izzy Brown is still injured, and there is no more Lewis Baker at Elland Road, as he has moved to Reading for the rest of the season. He made his debut for the Royals as a second-half substitute in a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest, and played well. It will hopefully be a confidence-boosting start for a player who so desperately needs to kick-start things after a disappointing last eighteen months.
Todd Kane’s Hull City demolished Michael Hector’s Sheffield Wednesday as their rampant recent form continues to see them rise up the table, while there was a rare win for Trevoh Chalobah and Ipswich at home to Rotherham.
League One
Brad Collins was in goal for Burton as they received a 9-0 hiding from Manchester City in the League Cup Semi Finals in midweek. Hardly disgracing himself, he made a number of good saves on an impossible night for him, but still went down to a 3-2 defeat at home to Gillingham on Saturday.
Dujon Sterling’s rock-solid spot at right-back for Coventry saw him play throughout their 1-1 draw with Wimbledon.
League Two
Nathan Baxter has been joined at Yeovil Town by Josh Grant and, together, they helped the Glovers to a first league win since October, with a clean sheet thrown in for good measure in the 1-0 win at Mansfield Town.
Jacob Maddox, still not 100%, played 70 minutes of Cheltenham’s 3-1 defeat to Tranmere Rovers.
Non-League
Karlo Ziger, a 17 year-old youth team goalkeeper who is yet to make his Development Squad debut, joined National League side Sutton United in an emergency deal on Friday that could last until the end of the season. Without a registered goalkeeper to play in the FA Trophy at Spennymoor on Saturday, the Croatian was thrown in at the deep end, and made a string of outstanding saves despite being on the end of a 3-0 defeat.
He is expected to play second-fiddle to Ross Worner for the most part, and will train at Chelsea on a part-time basis, but his debut outing will have given everyone at Sutton pause for thought moving forwards.
Italy
Serie A is on a two-week break but the Coppa Italia continues in its absence, with Tiémoué Bakayoko playing ninety minutes in Milan’s 2-0 win at Sampdoria. Ola Aina played just one minute fewer as Torino exited at the hands of Fiorentina, and there’s Monday night action away to Cagliari for Atalanta and Mario Pašalić.
Spain
Michy Batshuayi has returned from Valencia and, at the time of writing, is on the verge of joining Cesc Fabregas at Monaco for the rest of the season. His final appearance was a 45-minute stint in their Copa del Rey at Sporting Gijon.
Kenneth Omeruo was rested as Leganés were defeated by Real Madrid in the cup, a wise decision, as his return for the league match against Huesca yielded a clean sheet and a 1-0 win.
Joao Rodriguez played just over twenty minutes as Tenerife lost at Oviedo in the Segunda, and Josi Quintero got exactly the same as Lleida lost to Villarreal B in Segunda B.
France
Matt Miazga is curiously back in favour at Nantes. He didn’t get off the bench this week in either match but, considering he wasn’t even in the matchday squad for more than a month, that’s small progress.
Victorien Angban played 71 minutes as Metz won at Orleans to remain five points clear at the top of the Ligue 2 table.
Netherlands
The Eredivisie doesn’t return from its winter hiatus for another week, but the second tier is back, with Fankaty Dabo getting 68 minutes in Sparta Rotterdam’s 3-3 draw at Cambuur. It was his first outing since mid-November, and he’s hopefully over his latest injury issues.
Kyle Scott is no longer with Telstar and has been linked with Ascoli in Italy’s Serie B.
Northern Ireland
Jared Thompson’s league debut for Warrenpoint ended in a 4-0 defeat to top-of-the-table Linfield.
Statistics
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