You can’t keep Mario Pašalić down, as he ably demonstrated again this week, with a goal and an assist to take the Loan Army into Christmas.
Headliners
Pašalić has arguably been the player of the Loan Army season to date, considering his level of performance for a genuinely good Atalanta team. Having booked their place in the Champions League knockout rounds last week, they were back on top in Serie A action on Sunday with a resounding 5-0 win over Milan in which our Croatian protagonist scored one and made another.
Atalanta are positioning themselves to trigger a €15m option to buy him permanently but, as long as that remains a pending arrangement, Chelsea can try to convince him that his futures lies in West London rather than Bergamo.
England
Premier League
Danny Drinkwater was an unused substitute for Burnley as the Clarets won 1-0 at Bournemouth. Paper talk that Sean Dyche is looking to bring Conor Gallagher in on loan next month is likely misplaced but, if it were to happen, Drinkwater would have to either leave Turf Moor or sign permanently, such are Premier League loan rules.
Championship
Gallagher played his part as Charlton ground out a hard-earned point in a 2-2 draw against fellow London team QPR at Loftus Road.
Trevoh Chalobah, still in midfield and still picking up yellow cards (a fourth of the season in addition to one red), anchored Huddersfield Town to a 2-1 win over a Nottingham Forest team that will soon be playing at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea in the FA Cup.
Matt Miazga, Izzy Brown and Jake Clarke-Salter are all still sidelined through injury, but Clarke-Salter should be ready to resume training in the new year, ahead of the original estimate when he dislocated his shoulder.
Dujon Sterling and Wigan are in Monday night action away to Blackburn Rovers.
League One
Richard Nartey was in the middle of Burton’s defence for a 3-1 win at home to Rochdale, but Luke McCormick didn’t feature for Shrewsbury at Blackpool, and is counting the days until the January transfer window and a move elsewhere.
League Two
Plymouth’s trip to Macclesfield was postponed due to the ongoing financial problems at Moss Rose, so Josh Grant had no action this weekend.
Spain
Kenedy (injured) and Baba Rahman (coach’s decision) were not involved in La Liga action this weekend.
Italy
David Zappacosta is out for the season.
Germany
Ethan Ampadu and Lewis Baker combined for zero minutes across four Bundesliga matches this week, Baker even missed out on Fortuna Dusseldorf’s matchday squad at home to Union Berlin on Sunday.
France
Tiémoué Bakayoko and Monaco hammered Lille 5-1 on Saturday to head into the winter break in confident fashion.
Netherlands
Iké Ugbo, rested for Roda’s cup defeat at the hands of Heerenveen in midweek, was held scoreless again on Friday against Almere City to make it four consecutive outings without a goal.
Juan Castillo laid on another assist for Jong Ajax in a 2-0 win against Top OSS, while Vitesse still can’t call upon the services of either Jamal Blackman or Charly Musonda.
Portugal
Lucas Piazon didn’t play for Rio Ave in their cup win at Marinhense. He has started precisely one competitive fixture since May 2018.
Scotland
Nathan Baxter and Ross County were on the end of a 4-0 defeat to Livingston.
Hungary
Danilo Pantic and the Hungarian league are now on their winter break.
Turkey
Victor Moses is still injured.
Brazil
Nathan is still injured.
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.