The second week of January brought with it more transfer activity on the Chelsea loanee front as three more players lined up moves for the rest of the season. We’ll get to them in a minute, but we begin with the first career goal for a prospect who joined Chelsea at Under-11 level.
Headliners
Alex Davey isn’t the most prolific of scorers but, then again, he is a centre-back. He recently extended his loan stay at Scunthorpe United to the end of the season having impressed in his outings to date – mainly in an unfamiliar right-back role – and on Tuesday night celebrated his first goal in professional football by netting the opener in the Irons’ FA Cup clash with Chesterfield.
Chelsea’s League One representation did however decline by one this week as Todd Kane was recalled from his stay at Bristol City in order to join Championship side Nottingham Forest for the rest of the season. Kane was able to join Forest as a result of them winning SkyBet’s Transfer Fund lottery with one of their supporters picked at random having placed a bet with the company this season.
He made his debut on Saturday in a 2-0 defeat against Sheffield Wednesday, who featured Lewis Baker from the bench for the last ten minutes after the talented England Under-20 international joined the Owls on loan until the end of the season on Thursday. A third arrival in the division was confirmed on Friday when Tomas Kalas officially cancelled his stay at Bundesliga side Köln to join Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough.
England
Kalas went straight into the Boro starting line-up for their trip to Reading on Saturday, playing at right-back due to three alternatives for the position being unavailable through injury or international duty. He was joined by Patrick Bamford whilst Kenneth Omeruo was named as a substitute for the 0-0 draw in which the visitors were rather unlucky to have not come away with all three points. Bamford in particular was heavily snake bitten, watching his stupendous effort career back off the crossbar in the second half.
In the Premier League, Ryan Bertrand played for Southampton against Manchester United at Old Trafford and was part of a strong defensive performance as Saints won 1-0 to go third in the table.
Victor Moses returned to the Stoke matchday squad for the first time since late November as they lost 3-0 at Arsenal, but he wasn’t forced into action quite yet and remained an unused substitute.
Alex Kiwomya made his senior debut for Barnsley in a win over Yeovil on Saturday and did well, utilising his trademark pace and incisive running to good effect in a youthful team also featuring two other new loanees debuting in the professional game as well as former Chelsea academy player Milan Lalkovic.
Spain
Elche and Mario Pašalić had a double-header of action this week, beginning with a Copa del Rey trip to Barcelona in which they were on a hiding to nothing. Despite a heavily defensive formation they lost 5-0 with Pašalić unable to contribute anything notable.
He retained his place for Sunday’s testing away game at Athletic Bilbao and things turned out much better as they picked up a very impressive 2-1 victory.
Gael Kakuta and Rayo Vallecano are in Monday action against Córdoba. You can keep up to date with how he does on Twitter by following @chelseayouth. Former Córdoba man and current Tenerife forward Uli Dávila, meanwhile, seems certain to depart the club following a controversial winter breakdown of their relationship as the club have signed a Honduran who will take his non-EU spot in the squad.
Italy
Serie A returned with a pair of matchdays but neither Marco van Ginkel nor Marko Marin made an appearance for their respective sides. Van Ginkel is widely expected to return to Chelsea, where he may stick in the first team squad following the departure of Mark Schwarzer opening up a non-homegrown slot, or he may find an alternative loan home.
France
Arles-Avignon lost once again this weekend but Matej Delač wasn’t in goal. The other Chelsea loanee in France is no longer there as Bastia confirmed the termination of Joao Rodriguez’s stay with the Corsicans this week. His immediate future lies with his country’s Under-20 team ahead of the South American Championships.
Ligue Une may yet have another Chelsea player though with Bordeaux confirming on Friday that they are seeking to bring Nathaniel Chalobah in until the end of the season. Paperwork issues require resolving in the short-term but if it were to materialise it would be one of the more intriguing moves made by Eddie Newton and company this term.
The Rest
Islam Feruz spent the week training with Cardiff City only for the Welsh club to decide he wasn’t good enough to suit their needs. Following a failed stay at OFI Crete the Scottish Under-21 forward will now look for alternative arrangements.
Wallace and Josh McEachran played for Vitesse in a winter training camp friendly defeat at the hands of Anderlecht, whilst Bertrand Traore was absent owing to African Cup of Nations commitments with Burkina Faso. Ghana’s Christian Atsu is away from Everton for the same reason.
Fellow Eredivisie loanee Stipe Perica scored for NAC Breda in their own winter friendly schedule.
Lucas Piazon, Oriol Romeu and Thorgan Hazard all remain on a longer-term winter break with the Bundesliga not returning to play until the end of the month.