It is a time of year to beg, borrow and steal in the football world, especially in England, where the January transfer window is again expected to be dominated by loan deals. Only 37 of the 178 players leaving Premier League clubs last January moved permanently and close to one in every three of the incoming signings in the top flight – a ratio that for the second successive year was twice as high as in the summer – joined on a temporary basis.
Halfway through the season is normally short-term fix territory rather than a buyer’s market, which partly explains the prevalence of loans. Yet arguably the biggest factor is the sheer number of professionals that Premier League clubs have on their books these days and the need to find regular first-team football for as many as possible while recouping a bit of money at the same time.
Some players will be high-profile and out of favour – see Jermain Defoe, who has just joined Rangers on loan from Bournemouth; Liverpool’s Nathaniel Clyne, who has signed for Eddie Howe’s side until the end of the season; and Chelsea’s Gary Cahill. The majority, though, will be younger players who are some way off the first team and are, in the eyes of senior figures at their clubs, neither developing in a competitive environment by playing under-23 football nor increasing their value. Playing in the EFL ticks both boxes, potentially.
A spotlight shines on Chelsea for good reason when it comes to this sort of story, but a trawl through last January’s loan deals reveals that Brighton, Newcastle and Watford sanctioned more departures – double figures in each case – than anyone else. Chelsea, of course, already had plenty of players farmed out from the summer but the bottom line is that more and more top-flight clubs are adopting a proactive approach when it comes to the loan market.
Yet despite loans being so commonplace now, the framework of the deal remains loose, right down to fundamental details such as exactly what “until the end of the season” means. That aspect of a loan – the finishing point – is an area of negotiation with almost every deal given that player contracts run until 30 June and the last game of the season is usually at least six weeks earlier. At the top end that could equate to another £500,000, which is a lot of money to pay somebody else’s employee to sit on the beach.
It may be surprising to learn that some players not only get their wages covered in full by the club they are joining but also receive a substantial sum on top. In fact, the complaints of one Premier League player about all the time he had spent on loan earlier in his career raised a few eyebrows within his former club, given that at one stage he was happily picking up an additional five-figure sum every week, on top of his basic wage, for playing in the Championship.
With more sought-after players the parent club will always expect wages to be paid in their entirety. In some cases there will also be a one-off loan fee – incredibly, an eight-figure sum was quoted for one out-of-favour former England international in the summer – as well as add-ons in the event of a player helping a club avoid relegation or win promotion.
That extra outlay is a price worth paying if everything comes off – Aleksandar Mitrovic’s impact at Fulham last season is a case in point. The key word in that sentence, however, is “if”. This time last year West Brom took Daniel Sturridge on loan in the hope that he would score the goals to keep them up but because of injury they got only 116 minutes of football out of the Liverpool striker in exchange for £3.8m. On that same theme Crystal Palace had some fitness concerns in relation to Dominic Solanke and pulled out of signing the forward this week because Liverpool were against the idea of linking part of the loan fee to appearances.
While a team’s playing style and the manager’s reputation are important considerations when loaning out younger players, contacts make a big difference too. Frank Lampard, Derby’s manager, has two Chelsea loanees and would take a third – four from one club is the maximum in the EFL – if Maurizio Sarri agreed to allow Ethan Ampadu out. That is understood to be unlikely as things stand.
Loan rules differ in the Premier League, where only one player from the same club is permitted at a time. Clubs are also allowed a maximum of only two domestic loans at a time. Yet there is no limit on international loans, which means a struggling Premier League club can transform its starting XI in January without making a permanent signing. Two years ago Hull brought five players in on loan and almost survived.
Business has already been brisk this time around and, as the days tick by, it will be interesting to see what becomes of players such as Everton’s Morgan Schneiderlin, Vincent Janssen at Spurs, Leicester’s Adrien Silva, Divock Origi at Liverpool and Chelsea’s Danny Drinkwater, all of whom cost a fair few quid and could do with a new home – temporary or otherwise – to revive their careers.
The Guardian Sport
