The new loan season got firmly back into the swing of things this week, with a host of leagues getting their new campaigns underway, including the Premier League, where this term Chelsea have a record number of their players plying their trade. There’s plenty to catch up on, so let’s get stuck in.
Headliners
The first of four goals scored over the past seven days came courtesy of Lucas Piazon, who started Fulham’s League Cup trip to Wycombe as one of the more senior players in a team featuring two players born in the year 2000, and he made good on his experience by scoring a fine goal himself, and laying on an assist for the second in a 2-0 win.
He then added to that on Saturday afternoon away to former club Reading to earn Fulham a hard-fought 1-1 draw; hard-fought because Tomas Kalas had contrived to get himself sent off after just thirty seconds of the contest. Upon reflection it’s hard to be able to call the incident a clear denial of a goalscoring opportunity, but the referee saw enough to lean that way, and gave Kalas one of the fastest red cards in English football history.
Piazon himself came off the bench to score late in the second half, capitalising on a defensive mistake to pounce in clinical fashion.
In between those goals, Mario Pašalić had made his presence felt over at Spartak Moscow, where he will spend the 2016-17 season, by claiming an assist on debut and then scoring in the Moscow derby away to CKSA. The assist came unselfishly at home to Arsenal Tula with a chance he could easily have taken himself, whilst his first strike for Massimo Carrera’s boys was a goal typical of his game, arriving late on the edge of the area to finish clinically.
As Chelsea’s first team were toiling at Stamford Bridge, the midfielders away on loan looked to be proving something of a point, and Marco van Ginkel wasn’t about to be left out. He scored for the first time in his third stay at PSV to help them on their way to a 3-2 opening day win over AZ Alkmaar.
England
Premier League
The 25th year of the Premier League kicked off in style this weekend and it brought the first loanee clash of the season along with it. Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s Crystal Palace hosted Kasey Palmer’s newly-promoted Huddersfield Town and both youngsters caught the eye as the visitors recorded a 3-0 win that took them top of the table, but it was Loftus-Cheek who stole the show for the hosts. His swashbuckling display began as part of a front three but latterly saw him drop into central midfield, and he won plaudits from far and wide for such a powerful and influential display despite the final score.
Down at Southampton, Tammy Abraham made his Swansea City bow after excelling last season at Bristol City, and proved a handful in his 81 minutes to help Paul Clement’s side to a 0-0 draw, yet was guilty of missing a good opportunity to grab his first top-flight goal.
Kurt Zouma lined up on the right of a back three for Stoke and played well in a 1-0 defeat away to Everton, whilst Izzy Brown’s Brighton debut against Manchester City was prematurely ended by a hamstring injury that unfortunately looks as if it could keep him sidelined for a while.
Championship
Barnsley won a topsy-turvy League Cup outing against League Two’s Morecambe in midweek and Iké Ugbo made his mark with involvement in the opening two goals. Some outlets have credited him with the second but, as the video below will testify, it was quite clearly an own goal.
He got half an hour as a substitute in Saturday’s home defeat to Ipswich Town, leaving Paul Heckingbottom’s side without a point from their first two league outings.
Lewis Baker penned a new five-year deal with Chelsea this week and then joined Middlesbrough on loan for the season, going straight into the squad for Saturday evening’s match against Jamal Blackman’s Sheffield United. He played the last twenty minutes in relief of Rudy Gestede, who scored the goal that ultimately secured the points for Boro with a header over the indecisive Blackman.
Michael Hector and Ola Aina each completed another 90 minutes for Hull in their 4-1 win at home to Burton and a common theme is quickly developing. The more experienced Hector, in his thirteenth career loan move, was a stable and reliable performer, whilst Aina’s day was an up and down affair. He was widely-reported to be nervous in a number of defensive situations yet was a clear force going forwards, claiming an assist for Kamil Grosicki’s headed goal, and has generally provided a net positive input overall so far.
League One
Jay Dasilva started as Charlton lost 2-0 at Plymouth in League One action, having taken a back seat for their League Cup win at fellow Devon side Exeter in midweek.
League Two
Brad Collins was voted as Man of the Match by Forest Green Rovers supporters in their 2-0 defeat against promotion favourites Mansfield Town on Saturday.
Non-League
Nathan Baxter and Woking were on the wrong end of a pair of defeats away from home this week; losing 3-1 at Tranmere and then 3-0 at Barrow.
Jared Thompson had a better time of things for Chippenham Town though, starting in a resounding 5-2 win over rivals Bath City in their first meeting for a decade, but a 2-0 defeat at Braintree four days later brought them back down to earth somewhat.
Netherlands
The Eredivisie kicked off this weekend and, if Vitesse’s opening-day performance is anything to go by, they’ll be in for quite the season. They beat newly-promoted NAC Bread 4-1 in comprehensive fashion on an evening where 9 or 10 goals would not have flattered them, and look to have as strong a squad as they’ve had in years.
The match was billed by some as Chelsea B vs Manchester City B with a total of ten loanees and two permanent signings from the clubs involved one way or the other, but Fankaty Dabo was the sole Chelsea youngster to start. He put in a strong shift at right back and was later joined by Charlie Colkett and Matt Miazga for late substitute cameos, leaving Mason Mount awaiting his debut.
Todd Kane began his time at Groningen as a substitute at home to Heerenveen after picking up a knock in pre-season but came on for the final five minutes of a remarkable 3-3 draw.
Belgium
Victorien Angban made his Waasland-Beveren debut as a very late substitute against Oostende on Saturday night having returned to fitness after picking up an injury during pre-season at Chelsea.
Russia
Josimar Quintero continues to bide his time in waiting for his FC Rostov debut as he sat on the bench twice more this week.
Serbia
Danilo Pantic started for Partizan Belgrade away to Vojvodina after not playing in their defeat to Vozdovac in midweek and saw an hour of playing time.
Statistics
Started: July 15th
Finished: May 26th
| 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 | |||
| Tammy Abraham | Swansea City | 30 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1971 | 37 | 8 |
| Ola Aina | Hull City | 44 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4003 | 47 | 1 |
| Victorien Angban | Waasland-Beveren | 30 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2349 | 31 | 1 |
| Lewis Baker | Middlesbrough | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 790 | 14 | 2 |
| Michy Batshuayi | Dortmund | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1169 | 14 | 9 |
| Jeremie Boga | Birmingham City | 30 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2190 | 33 | 2 |
| Isaiah Brown | Brighton | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 401 | 15 | 0 |
| Jake Clarke-Salter | Sunderland | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 490 | 9 | 0 |
| Charlie Colkett | Vitesse Arnhem | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 293 | 11 | 0 |
| Cristian Cuevas | FC Twente | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1968 | 24 | 0 |
| Fankaty Dabo | Vitesse Arnhem | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2625 | 33 | 0 |
| Jay Dasilva | Charlton Athletic | 39 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3483 | 43 | 0 |
| Marco van Ginkel | PSV | 28 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2874 | 33 | 16 |
| Michael Hector | Hull City | 36 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3054 | 37 | 1 |
| Jordan Houghton | Doncaster Rovers | 37 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3170 | 39 | 1 |
| Tomas Kalas | Fulham | 35 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2609 | 36 | 0 |
| Todd Kane | Groningen | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 571 | 10 | 0 |
| Todd Kane | Oxford United | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1530 | 17 | 3 |
| Kenedy | Newcastle United | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 869 | 11 | 2 |
| Ruben Loftus-Cheek | Crystal Palace | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1965 | 25 | 2 |
| Matt Miazga | Vitesse Arnhem | 36 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3659 | 43 | 4 |
| Mason Mount | Vitesse Arnhem | 32 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2915 | 39 | 14 |
| Charly Musonda | Celtic | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 335 | 8 | 0 |
| Nathan | Amiens | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 85 | 2 | 0 |
| Nathan | Belenenses | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 496 | 13 | 2 |
| Kenneth Omeruo | Kasimpasa | 27 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2407 | 27 | 1 |
| Kasey Palmer | Huddersfield Town | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 243 | 5 | 0 |
| Kasey Palmer | Derby County | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 473 | 16 | 2 |
| Danilo Pantic | Partizan Belgrade | 31 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3146 | 46 | 5 |
| Mario Pašalić | Spartak Moscow | 21 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1656 | 30 | 5 |
| Lucas Piazon | Fulham | 23 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1360 | 25 | 6 |
| Josimar Quintero | FC Rostov | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 0 |
| Josimar Quintero | Real Betis B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 63 | 5 | 0 |
| Baba Rahman | Schalke | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 1 | 0 |
| Joao Rodriguez | Tampico Madero | 21 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1727 | 23 | 8 |
| Fikayo Tomori | Hull City | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2152 | 26 | 0 |
| Iké Ugbo | Barnsley | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 909 | 18 | 1 |
| Iké Ugbo | Milton Keynes | 16 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1161 | 17 | 2 |
| Kurt Zouma | Stoke City | 33 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3038 | 34 | 1 |
| Total | 64255 | 898 | 99 | |||||||||||
| 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 | Woking | 42 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4320 | 48 | 7 |
| Mitchell Beeney | Sligo Rovers | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 990 | 11 | 2 |
| Jamal Blackman | Sheffield United | 30 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2727 | 32 | 9 |
| Brad Collins | Forest Green Rovers | 40 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3839 | 43 | 8 |
| Jared Thompson | Chippenham Town | 40 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3960 | 44 | 11 |
| Total | 15746 | 177 | 37 | |||||||||||