We bring you an abridged version of the Loan Report this Sunday owing to the fact that England is the only active country during the festive period. Nonetheless, we do have a goal for you, and it comes from Ryan Bertrand.
Headliners
The 25 year-old has never been a prolific goalscorer and came into this season with just three career strikes to his name. He netted against Queens Park Rangers for Southampton back in September and scored again this past Boxing Day by striking a beautiful effort into the top corner – with his weaker right foot no less – to help the Saints to a 3-1 win at Crystal Palace.
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He was then precluded from taking part in Sunday’s match at home to parent club Chelsea by Premier League loan rules.
England
Nathaniel Chalobah was an unused substitute for Burnley at Manchester City on Sunday having been left out of their squad altogether two days earlier, whilst Christian Atsu and Victor Moses remain on the treatment table.
The busy schedule also saw Middlesbrough play twice in three days and they pulled out a pair of solid results to remain in the Championship’s top 3; beating Nottingham Forest 3-0 before drawing 0-0 at Blackburn Rovers. Patrick Bamford and Kenneth Omeruo started the former with Bamford winning a penalty for the second time in three games before coming off the bench in the second clash (when Omeruo was an unused sub) to try to claim another only to come across a less-than-favourable referee.
As always, Jamal Blackman was not in the matchday squad on either occasion.
Todd Kane was Boxing Day Man of the Match for Bristol City in a defensive midfield role as the Robins beat Yeovil 2-1. He was back on the bench at Gillingham in a rotated side 48 hours later and played the last five minutes.
Alex Davey was an unused substitute for Scunthorpe as they beat Rochdale 2-1 and their Sunday fixture at Sheffield United was postponed due to heavy snowfall.
Winter Breaks
Leagues in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Greece are now into their traditional winter intervals, which means no updates from Uli Dávila, Matej Delač, Islam Feruz, Thorgan Hazard, Gael Kakuta, Tomas Kalas, Marko Marin, Josh McEachran, Mario Pašalić, Stipe Perica, Lucas Piazon, Joao Rodriguez, Oriol Romeu, Bertrand Traore, Marco van Ginkel and Wallace.
They’ll return to action at some point in January but for many of them, they might find themselves in different colours when they do so as they seek alternative arrangements to make amends for disappointing first halves of the campaign.
Fernando Torres
We also bid farewell to Fernando Torres, who will convert his two-year loan to Milan into a permanent free transfer in order to then move to Atlético Madrid. He leaves the Loan Report with ten appearances and a solitary goal against Empoli.