The Loan Report: October

Posted By on October 25, 2020

33 players, 33 comments. October’s Loan Report features a bumper crop of Chelsea loanees, driven by a pandemic-influenced transfer market in which any plans for trimming the fat around the edges of this particular arm of development strategy have been put well and truly on hold until calmer waters can be found. With plenty to catch up on, let’s get stuck in.

Ethan Ampadu, Sheffield United
Had to bide his time upon arrival at Bramall Lane but, owing to a suspension to John Egan and a season-ending injury to Jack O’Connell, has been afforded an opportunity to earn more regular time in Chris Wilder’s back three. His class has been apparent whenever he’s on the pitch and, while he is yet to be entrusted with the responsibility of getting forward as an overlapping CB in that particular system, he has been able to drive ball progression in possession. Opportunities are now also forthcoming in midfield.

Tiemoué Bakayoko, Napoli
A known commodity in Serie A, Bakayoko has essentially picked up where he left off at the end of his last spell in Italy with Milan. He’s highly unlikely to have a future at Chelsea, and as such is playing for a potentially permanent move to the Partenopei, who will be pleased with how he has settled in so far.

Lewis Baker, Trabzonspor
Working under a trusted mentor in Eddie Newton, Lewis seems to have found the stability and security he sorely needed at this stage of his career. Now 25 and at a crossroads after disappearing altogether during the second half of the 2019-20 season, he’s played every minute of every league match since joining Trabzonspor, controlling the tempo and increasingly influencing play.

Ross Barkley, Aston Villa
Barkley’s season-long sojourn to Villa caught everyone by surprise, but he fits Dean Smith’s team like a glove, and scored in each of his first two appearances; a 7-2 walloping of Liverpool and a last-gap 1-0 win at Leicester, with both efforts typical of him in coming from outside the area. He was unable to follow that up against Leeds this past Friday but he’s already forged a strong understanding with the likes of John McGinn and Jack Grealish and will continue to impress.

Michy Batshuayi, Crystal Palace
A return to Selhurst Park proved to be the most alluring option for Batshuayi in 20-21 and he’s slowly beginning to reintegrate himself into Roy Hodgson’s plans. An increasing workload over his first month at the club culminated in his first full ninety PL minutes this weekend in a win away to Fulham, and his particular brand of opportunism in attack suits a team that prefers to play on the counter attack.

Nathan Baxter, Accrington Stanley
Nathan became the third Chelsea loanee to head to the Wham Stadium earlier this month, joining Tariq Uwakwe and Jon Russell, but is yet to make his debut for the club as young custodian Toby Savin has held onto the starting gloves so far. The move was a long time in coming as Chelsea tied up the deal to bring Edouard Mendy to Stamford Bridge, freeing up Baxter from his duties as third-choice stopper, and after Accrington’s weekend fixture fell foul of Covid, it won’t be long until he’s involved there.

Jamal Blackman, Rotherham United
Back at his best after injury, and back in Yorkshire where he enjoyed a successful stay at Sheffield United (he’s even living in the same place he did back then), the 27 year-old Blackman is doing well at Rotherham. Results will rarely tell the full story for one of the Championship’s relegation candidates, but Blackman has been more up than down so far, and is vital to their chances of staying up.

Armando Broja, Vitesse
Broja continues to catch the eye and make an impact wherever he goes and whatever he does. He scored a brace on his first start for Vitesse last weekend, helping the team to a 2-0 win away to ADO Den Haag despite being down to ten men for half of the match, and then featured from kick-off in a 2-1 win against PSV this week.

Charlie Brown, Union-SG
Charlie re-joined Belgian second tier side Union-SG in July after a premature end to his original deal back in March, when the decision was made to stop all football due to the pandemic, but things didn’t quite go to plan this time either. After failing to play a single minute in the first three months of 20-21, Chelsea terminated his loan on deadline day and he will now work towards his next move.

Isaiah Brown, Sheffield Wednesday
It’s been an all too familiar story for Izzy so far at Sheffield Wednesday; after a bright start for a team attempting to recover from a twelve-point deduction to start the season, injuries have once again hampered his progress, and he’s missed their last four matches. Manager Garry Monk hopes to have him back soon.

Juan Castillo, AZ Alkmaar
Juan returned to Dutch football for the second successive season, linking up with Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar after a strong showing for Jong Ajax in the second tier last term, but has so far had to wait to make his debut, and was one of several players in the squad to test positive for Covid-19 himself this past week.

Trevoh Chalobah, Lorient
Trevoh also tested positive for Covid-19 shortly after agreeing to move to Lorient back in the summer, before then picking up an injury that meant he wasn’t able to make his first start for the club until last weekend. He went one better this Saturday in getting his first 90 minutes at home to Marseille, slotting into a holding midfield role as usual, and hopefully it’s onwards and upwards from here.

Jake Clarke-Salter, Birmingham City
After impressing so much on loan to the other Blues last season, it was perhaps a little disappointing to see Jake return to St Andrew’s for a second time, despite significant interest in his services from elsewhere. He is now working under a new manager in Aitor Karanka, which ought to benefit him, but bigger challenges still lie ahead for the 23 year-old. A calf injury has so far prevented him from making his second debut.

Jamie Cumming, Stevenage
Jamie continues to be a source of consistency for struggling Stevenage, who were given a particularly tough challenge late in pre-season when they were given a reprieve from relegation due to Macclesfield Town’s financial woes. Having to plan for a League Two campaign rather than a National League challenge in a matter of weeks was far from easy but the young goalkeeper has asserted himself as one of the better players in his position in the league and is getting plenty of experience of ‘real football’.

Conor Gallagher, West Bromwich Albion
It took a little while for Conor to make his Premier League debut but, when he got there last weekend against Burnley, he seized the moment with both hands, just like he has with every opportunity that has come his way in recent years. He provides an energy and a mobility that West Brom lack in the middle of the park and should be able to build upon that early promise away to Brighton on Monday night.

https://twitter.com/WBA/status/1318548204816900097

Marco van Ginkel, PSV Eindhoven
Marco’s fourth loan move to PSV is unlike any of the other three as, after more than two years out injured, it’s a deal without any real long-term view. He might not be able to play until December, and his Chelsea contract expires at the end of this season, but either club nor the player are looking at this move as anything other than the next step in his return to playing regular football. It’ll be great to see him back when it eventually happens.

Marc Guehi, Swansea City
Maybe the best young defender in the Championship, Marc continues to be a quality mix of effortlessly easy defending and some of the best ball progression in the league. He’s growing into a leadership role that he always had at Chelsea, and is now needed more than ever at Swansea after the departures of Mike van der Hoorn and Joe Rodon, and the sky really is the limit for him.

Kenedy, Granada
Kenedy is what he is at this stage; he did well enough at Getafe last season without ever taking that next step, and the same applies to his first few months back in La Liga at Granada. He’ll chip in with a few goals here and there, and can make an impact off the bench in particular, but he doesn’t seem to have the capacity to really kick on. He turns 25 later this season and, like several of Chelsea’s loanees, should be using this season to work out where he goes next.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fulham
Ruben sort of falls into that category too, although his task this season is to prove that he can return to full fitness away from Chelsea after nearly eighteen months of struggling to make it back from that achilles injury. He was about to get there in the early Spring time before a three-month pause to football at all levels, and then a six-week pre-season once again left him short of meaningful match fitness. A bright start at Fulham brings renewed confidence that he can be the player he’s always teased to be.

Ian Maatsen, Charlton Athletic
Ian came off the bench to make an instant impact on his Charlton debut this past week, providing the cross that led to the only goal in a win at Blackpool, and although he’s a rather different player to Jay Dasilva, he already has Addicks fans celebrating the same sort of quality coming from West London. He promises to excite over the next few months.

Luke McCormick, Bristol Rovers
Luke needed to restart things after a disappointing 2019-20 campaign didn’t go his way, and Bristol Rovers have given him the chance to do that. Under a young progressive manager in Ben Garner, assisted by former Chelsea Under-16 coach Jack Mesure, he’s slotted into their midfield and brought his own brand of enthusiasm and quality on and off the ball to an ambitious young team that are finding their feet after a slow start. He came recommended by Jody Morris and is delivering on that so far.

George McEachran, MVV Maastricht
George spent a couple of months in the Dutch second tier with Cambuur earlier this year and is now back there with MVV for the season to come. He’s made a couple of sub appearances so far and will be aiming to find his feet at a level that is ostensibly rather similar to the PL2 but has more quality and experience at the top end.

Matt Miazga, Anderlecht
Matt’s latest move has taken him to Belgium after taking in spells at Vitesse, Nantes and Reading since signing for Chelsea. Anderlecht represents the biggest club he’s so far played for away from Chelsea and, working under a quality former central defender in Vincent Kompany, he’s in a good place to learn. He’s started each of their last two league matches and should be a fixture in the team for much of the season.

Victor Moses, Spartak Moscow
Wherever he goes and whatever he does, VicMo produces. Inter chose not to sign him this summer after a successful reunion with Antonio Conte last season and, with few options available, he has taken his talents to Russia and Spartak Moscow, who have a €4.5m option to buy him. A full debut goal this weekend against a Krasnodar team preparing for Chelsea in the Champions League will have done no harm whatsoever.

Danilo Pantic, Cukaricki
Yes, he’s still technically a Chelsea player and yes, he’s still on loan in Serbian football. He’s pretty good there too, even though Cukaricki aren’t nearly as good as Partizan Belgrade, and he’ll probably move on at some point in the next twelve months.

Lucas Piazón, Rio Ave
Lucas is another who’s ready to move on if recent interview quotes are anything to go by, but for the time being he’s into the second half of a two-year loan to Rio Ave, where he seems to have found his level. He’s been perfectly acceptable for a top-half Portuguese league team with European ambitions but, after losing to Milan in the Europa League qualifiers, it’s domestic action all the way now.

Jonathan Russell, Accrington Stanley
Russell made an immediate impact for Stanley when he scored on his first start a fortnight ago, and he’s earned the trust of manager John Coleman rather quickly. You won’t find many midfielders with his size but ease of movement and, while he has a lot of developing still to do, early signs are promising.

Malang Sarr, FC Porto
Malang offered something of a free shot for Chelsea this summer; a free agent signing on fairly low wages (for Chelsea at least) with plenty of scope to improve while on loan, Porto is a decent place to learn and figure out whether he’s a centre-back, a left-back, or something in between. A first start away to Man City in the Champions League offered plenty of food for thought.

Teddy Sharman-Lowe, Burton Albion
The only thing that really changed this summer for Teddy is the name of his employer; Chelsea signed the England Under-17 from Burton before loaning him right back to the Brewers to continue his development in the most familiar surroundings. He’s earned first-team minutes in cup competitions but is otherwise right where you’d expect a teenage goalkeeper in the football league to be; very very few of them get to play regularly but, with Jake Buxton’s team struggling at the foot of League One so far, he might yet be thrown in at the deep end.

Iké Ugbo, Cercle Brugge
Iké has four goals in seven appearances for Paul Clement’s Cercle so far this season and is growing into himself with every match. He’s even changed squad numbers to take the number 9 and, as he impresses, talk of a call-up to the Nigerian squad is increasing too. Keep a close eye on him.

Tariq Uwakwe, Accrington Stanley
Tariq scored a debut hat-trick for Accrington against a very young Leeds team in the EFL Trophy before netting a stunning strike on his league bow against Peterborough, setting the highest of standards for himself from the very beginning. Things have calmed down since but, as he familiarises himself with playing as a wing-back at the Wham Stadium, he’s doing just fine thank you very much.

Ethan Wady, Dartford
Ethan is yet to feature in a competitive match for Dartford, but has been given plenty of minutes in a couple of friendlies, which bodes well for further involvement as the National League South season gets underway after a delayed start.

Davide Zappacosta, Genoa
Zappa marked his Genoa debut with a goal before testing positive for Covid-19 at the end of September. He tested negative earlier this week, however, and should therefore be back before much longer all being well.

Statistics

Started: August 22nd
Finished: May 31st

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 Sheffield United 24 (2) 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2450 27 (2) 0
Tiemoue Bakayoko Napoli 23 (8) 2 2 (2) 0 0 0 5 (2) 0 1 0 2480 31 (10) 2
Lewis Baker Trabzonspor 29 (5) 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 (1) 0 2733 30 (6) 2
Ross Barkley Aston Villa 19 (6) 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1613 19 (6) 3
Michy Batshuayi Crystal Palace 7 (11) 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 897 9 (11) 2
Armando Broja Vitesse Arnhem 21 (9) 10 3 (1) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2186 24 (10) 11
Charlie Brown Union SG 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Isaiah Brown Sheffield Wednesday 4 (15) 0 0 (1) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 647 5 (16) 0
Juan Castillo AZ Alkmaar 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 457 6 (1) 0
Juan Castillo ADO Den Haag 9 (7) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 878 10 (7) 0
Trevoh Chalobah Lorient 24 (5) 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2301 25 (5) 2
Jake Clarke-Salter Birmingham City 9 (1) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 881 10 (1) 0
Danny Drinkwater Kasimpasa 6 (5) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 519 6 (5) 0
Conor Gallagher West Bromwich Albion 28 (2) 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2683 30 (2) 2
Marco van Ginkel PSV 3 (8) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 351 3 (8) 1
Marc Guehi Swansea City 43 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3950 45 0
Kenedy Granada 18 (10) 4 3 (1) 2 0 0 11 (1) 2 0 0 2516 34 (12) 8
Ruben Loftus-Cheek Fulham 21 (9) 1 1 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2032 22 (10) 1
Ian Maatsen Charlton Athletic 31 (3) 1 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2896 31 (4) 1
Luke McCormick Bristol Rovers 36 (3) 6 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3318 39 (3) 6
George McEachran MVV Maastricht 1 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 1 (2) 0
Matt Miazga Anderlecht 30 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2990 33 1
Victor Moses Spartak Moscow 18 (1) 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1604 19 (1) 4
Danilo Pantic Cukaricki 17 (10) 1 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1588 17 (11) 1
Lucas Piazon Rio Ave 6 (2) 2 0 (1) 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 789 9 (3) 2
Baba Rahman PAOK 11 (2) 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1383 14 (2) 1
Jonathan Russell Accrington Stanley 12 (13) 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1330 13 (13) 2
Malang Sarr FC Porto 5 (3) 0 4 0 1 1 4 (2) 0 0 0 1401 14 (5) 1
Fikayo Tomori Milan 16 (1) 1 0 (1) 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 1896 20 (2) 1
Iké Ugbo Cercle Brugge 32 16 0 (2) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2753 32 (2) 17
Tariq Uwakwe Accrington Stanley 12 (3) 1 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 4 (1) 3 1206 16 (5) 4
Jack Wakely Brighton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Davide Zappacosta Genoa 23 (2) 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2048 23 (2) 4
Total 54876 617 (167) 79



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 Accrington Stanley 16 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1657 19 7
Jamal Blackman Rotherham United 25 (1) 5 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2543 30 (1) 5
Jamie Cumming Stevenage 41 17 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 4290 47 18
Teddy Sharman-Lowe Burton Albion 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 270 3 0
Ethan Wady Dartford 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 450 5 1
Total 9210 104 (1) 31