Lucas Piazon and Mario Pašalić are two players on rather different career trajectories right now, but both were on the scoresheet this week, taking the Loan Army to a round 40 for the season.
Headliners
Pašalić is trending upwards and has been for some two years now. His seventh goal of the season for Atalanta came less than a minute after he came off the bench at home to Roma on Saturday, and a real moment of quality proved to be enough to secure three points that put six points between the two teams in the race for Champions League qualification.
Anything can and will happen in football but, right now, all signs point towards Atalanta exercising their €15m option to buy the Croatian before the end of this summer.
Piazon, meanwhile, is a recently-turned 26 year-old in the first season of a two-year loan arrangement with Rio Ave in Portugal. He’s actually doing quite well there, scoring his fourth goal in twelve outings this term this weekend – his second of the season against Sporting CP in addition to a free kick against Benfica – but, as well as he’s doing there, things haven’t quite gone as many would have expected when he joined Chelsea as a fresh-faced teenager.
England
Premier League
Danny Drinkwater played an hour as Aston Villa lost 3-2 at home to Tottenham Hotspur.
Championship
Conor Gallagher played a role in two of Swansea’s goals in their entertaining 4-4 draw with Hull on Friday night; he produced an exquisite assist for Wayne Routledge early in the game and was generally a menace throughout. Marc Guehi struggled in defence at the other end, earning plenty of scorn from Swansea supporters in the process, but it’s important to remember he’s in the first six matches of his professional career and is on loan to learn, which he most certainly is, and improve, which he most certainly will do. There were far fewer comments by way of praise for his contribution to their clean sheet in midweek at home to QPR, for example, and that should tell a story all by itself.
Jake Clarke-Salter continues to do well for Birmingham; a win and a clean sheet at Barnsley was followed up with a strong showing in a 1-1 draw against promotion-chasing Brentford, and he’s now asserting himself as one of the best young defenders in the Championship, still at the rather tender age of 22.
Trevoh Chalobah has been consigned to the Huddersfield Town bench for the last three matches, two of which came in the past week, resulting in no wins and just one point for the struggling Terriers. Izzy Brown’s return from Luton, however, has given the previously moribund Hatters a timely lift with a pair of 1-0 wins this week giving them real hope of an unlikely escape from relegation. Brown played 97 minutes across the two wins as he feels his way back from his latest ailment but he will be crucial to their chances of staying up.
Matt Miazga used his injury absence to return to Vitesse and say a belated farewell to the Arnhem faithful after two successful seasons there on loan, while Dujon Sterling is expected to return to training at Wigan this week after overcoming a hamstring problem.
League One
Richard Nartey was back in the Burton Albion starting eleven in midweek and the Brewers drew 2-2 with promotion-chasing Oxford United. He was then substituted after an hour of their 4-1 defeat to Ipswich on Saturday, the damage having already been done.
Jamal Blackman kept a clean sheet to help Bristol Rovers to a midweek goalless draw away to Tranmere Rovers before putting in a match-winning performance at home to Blackpool on Saturday, producing a big save to clinch the three points at the very end of the contest.
League Two
Josh Grant was a late substitute for Plymouth away to Salford in midweek before returning to anchor the midfield in a big 2-1 win over Crewe at the top of the table. He was also presented with his England Under-20 cap by the FA for his performances at that level two years ago.
Italy
Victor Moses played 74 minutes for Inter in midweek as they were beaten 1-0 at home by Napoli in the Coppa Italia. On Sunday, he was a late substitute in a 2-1 defeat to Lazio that turned the Serie A title race into a three-way battle.
Davide Zappacosta is injured,
Spain
Kenedy played most of the second half as Getafe were narrowly beaten 2-1 away to Barcelona.
Baba Rahman is injured.
Germany
Ethan Ampadu lives! He came on for the final half an hour of Leipzig’s comfortable 3-0 win over Werder Bremen to mark his first competitive action since December 10th.
France
Tiémoué Bakayoko returned from suspension to help guide Monaco to a 1-0 win over Montpellier that lifted the team into fifth place and just two points shy of a Europa League place.
Netherlands
Juan Castillo was one of a number of Jong Ajax regulars to miss out last Monday away to Jong Utrecht, resulting in a rather surprising 7-2 defeat for the high-flying young Amsterdamers, and they will hope to return to better form at home to NAC Breda this coming Monday.
Iké Ugbo and Roda lost 2-0 at De Graafschap to stay third from bottom, while George McEachran was an unused substitute as league leaders Cambuur won away to Almere City.
Belgium
Charlie Brown was an unused substitute as Union SG let a 3-0 lead slip at home to Roeselare.
Scotland
Nathan Baxter, who featured in Chelsea’s latest ‘Life on Loan’ series, was on the losing side as Ross County went down 3-0 at Hibernian in midweek, but he helped them to battle back and claim a draw at home to St Johnstone on Saturday.
Brazil
Nathan made his return from injury for Atlético-MG in their midweek draw against Campinense in the Copa do Brasil, then started for the first time since December against Caldense in the Mineiro State Championship and played for an hour.
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.