Arsenal
Lukas Podolski started only eight games for Internazionale following his loan move to Italy in January and returns to London with his future uncertain but very likely to lie away from the Emirates. Joel Campbell seems much more coveted – although not by Arsène Wenger - with David Moyes’ Real Sociedad leading the chase for the 22-year-old Costa Rican. Yaya Sanogo, fresh from his three league starts in four months at Crystal Palace, does not yet seem first-team ready while Carl Jenkinson, after a solid season at West Ham, has been told he can spend next season away from the club as well.
Perhaps the most likely recent loanee to be spotted in Arsenal’s colours is Wellington Silva, the Brazilian signed as an 18-year-old back in 2011. Because of work permit issues he has made only fleeting visits to this country but after four and a half years on loan in Spain he has qualified for a Spanish passport as a long-term resident and is therefore, ironically, finally able to leave the country and report for duty with the club who have held his registration for most of his career. The most likely outcome, however, is that his long-awaited Premier League debut will come in another side’s shirt. “I want to be with Arsenal but, if I must be loaned again, I have no problem with that,” he said recently. “There are two clubs in England that have already spoken with my agent, so I know I have those two options. I would like to play in England now, even if it isn’t for Arsenal. I hope to show my potential.” SB
Aston Villa
Gary Gardner – Craig’s younger brother – returns following an impressive half-season at Nottingham Forest, where he scored four goals in 16 starts, and, should he remain injury-free, the midfielder is a potential beneficiary of Tom Cleverley’s decision to forsake Villa Park in favour of Everton. Callum Robinson has, according to Tim Sherwood, earned “rave reviews” for his performances for promotion-winning Preston, and the manager has already ruled out another loan deal for the forward. Joe Bennett, who played 42 times for Brighton, and the hard-tackling Lewis Kinsella, who ended the season at Luton having previously impressed Sherwood with his ability to “leave someone sprawling on the floor every time he’s out there”, will both be assessed in the summer but logic suggests that one of the two left-backs will remain at Villa Park next season.
The club’s remaining loanees are unlikely to find a way back into the fold on their return, with the 6ft 5in forward Nicklas Helenius, whose one season in the Midlands featured six substitute appearances, one goal and a bacterial condition that “ruined me physically”, provoked “very bad thoughts” and left him “addicted to sleeping pills” having already been told to find a new club after spending the last year at Aalborg, while Aleksandar Tonev, the Bulgarian winger who spent last season at Celtic, made little impact beyond earning a seven-match ban for racially abusing Aberdeen’s Shay Logan. Yacouba Sylla and Antonio Luna return with their futures uncertain while Enda Stevens has been released after a season at Doncaster and Darren Bent has made a permanent move to where he spent the second half of last season, Derby County. SB
Bournemouth
Nearly four years after Josh Carmichael made his first-team debut at the age of 16 and nearly three years after his most recent first-team appearance, the midfielder returns after spending the second half of last season with first Welling and then Havant & Waterlooville. At the Hawks he was reunited with Lee Bradbury, who as Cherries manager gave him his debut in September 2011, and was joined by Harry Cornick, another Bournemouth midfield prospect, with both players involved in their Conference South play-off final defeat by Boreham Wood. Neither is likely to see much Premier League action. SB
Chelsea
Chelsea’s loan policy can appear scattergun, a bleeding of a bloated squad, but it is actually meticulously planned. The Premier League listed initially 72 senior players retained by the champions earlier this month but they have loaned out up to 30 to clubs across the globe in each of the last two years. Remember Oriol Romeu? He has been at Stuttgart. Marko Marin? At Fiorentina and Anderlecht. Then there are Marco van Ginkel at Milan or Ulises Dávila at Tenerife, Matej Delac at Arles-Avignon and Lucas Piazon at Eintracht Frankfurt. Many have excelled. Others have merely maintained steady progress. Some will make their temporary moves permanent, helping to fund the £8m-a-year maintenance costs of Chelsea’s academy rather than making a huge dent in the club’s strategy to comply with financial fair play.
The London club has struck up relationships with clubs at home and abroad, from Real Betis to Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz in Belgium. Vitesse Arnhem – who took Bertrand Traoré, Wallace and Josh McEachran – remain the most high-profile, with Chelsea comfortable that their charges benefit from the right kind of training and experience at the Dutch club while they themselves receive weekly updates on individuals’ progress. José Mourinho’s friendship with Aitor Karanka also took Kenneth Omeruo, Tomas Kalas and Patrick Bamford to Middlesbrough. Bamford’s predicament rather sums up the group of loanees. An England under-21 international, he has a choice after a successful year in the Championship: does he stay at Chelsea and compete to be the seniors’ third-choice forward? Or does he seek a loan at another Premier League club or at a European team to gain more regular game-time and further his development? Those discussions are ongoing.
In truth, few of those loaned out last term stand much chance of gaining regular first-team involvement at Chelsea in the near future. Some may not even qualify for work permits to compete in England. Others, like McEachran, Gaël Kakuta, Lewis Baker and Nathaniel Chalobah, may seek to move on more permanently. But a similar number to last year will be loaned out, with Nathan Aké set for Middlesbrough and Andreas Christensen most likely to lead the latest exodus in the hope that, one day, they will have proved their pedigree to warrant regular inclusion with their parent club back at Stamford Bridge. DF
Crystal Palace
Paddy McCarthy’s loan move to Bolton was one of the most unusual stories of last season, the switch having initially been suggested by the former Palace manager Tony Pulis when he was called by a prankster – Limavady United midfielder Blain Morrison – pretending to be Bolton’s Neil Lennon. In the call “Lennon” asks if he can loan Gareth McAuley, a regular starter at West Brom, and while Pulis dismisses the idea, he suggests McCarthy as an alternative. Within weeks of the video being posted on YouTube, the deal was completed. McCarthy has played 130 league games for Palace, although it is more than three years since he last started one, and if a rumoured permanent return to the Macron Stadium does not transpire, the 32-year-old is likely to see more loan action during the final year of his Palace contract. At Bolton he played alongside the midfielder Barry Bannan, who is likely to have plenty of suitors at Championship level should Palace still not consider him worthy of a place in their first-team squad.
Adlène Guedioura, meanwhile, excelled in two loan spells at Watford and could find himself in Hertfordshire on a permanent basis after their promotion to the Premier League. Ezekiel Fryers, signed from Tottenham last September for a fee that could rise to £3m, had spells at Rotherham and Ipswich last season but will hope to add to his three minutes of first-team football at Palace. SB
Everton
The midfielder Conor Grant made 12 appearances for Motherwell as they beat Rangers in a play-off to stay in the Scottish Premier League and has been offered a new contract by Everton. Matthew Pennington made 25 appearances for Coventry City last season and was named the club’s young player of the year after helping to secure their League One status. He is out of contract this summer but has been offered a new deal by Everton and is highly regarded.
George Green signed for a fee of up to £500,000 from Bradford City in October 2011 and showed promise despite Tranmere Rovers’ relegation from the Football League but was surprisingly released by Everton at the end of the season. Roberto Martínez spoke glowingly of the midfielder John Lundstram but, like Green, he was released after loan spells at Blackpool and Leyton Orient. Chris Long scored four goals in 11 appearances for Brentford as they reached the Championship play-offs and Martínez is keen to keep the striker at Goodison Park. AH
Leicester City
Last season was a massive disappointment for Chris Wood, the New Zealand striker whose arrival from West Brom in January 2013 – after he had scored 11 goals in 19 impressive appearances on loan at Millwall – had been considered something of a coup. His first half-season went well enough, with nine goals scored in 20 league appearances as Leicester lost out in the Championship play-offs but there followed only four goals from 26 appearances (seven starts) in their promotion season and he was unable to add to his goal against Everton on the opening day of last season, despite six more substitute appearances at Leicester and eight games (three starts) at Ipswich towards the end of the campaign. He seems unlikely to feature next season and there is no doubt at all in the cases of Gary Taylor-Fletcher, the 34-year-old striker who had loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall, and Paul Gallagher, the midfielder whose 18 months at Preston resulted in him becoming the first player to make 100 appearances for a loan club, whose contracts both expire this summer. SB
Liverpool
Divock Origi had to stay on loan with Lille as a condition of his £9.8m transfer last summer but did not have a season to support Brendan Rodgers’ claim that he is potentially world-class. Origi scored eight times in 33 appearances for a struggling team and was named in L’Equipe’s worst team of the Ligue 1 season. Another forward, Iago Aspas, did not get the regular football he wanted with the Europa League winners, Sevilla, but has confirmed he expects the loan deal to be made permanent this summer for a fee of around £5m. The former Barcelona midfielder Luis Alberto likewise struggled to secure a place in Málaga’s first team. Liverpool’s £6.8m signing does not feature in their manager’s plans.
The powerful defender Andre Wisdom made a promising start at West Bromwich Albion under Alan Irvine but barely got a look in once Tony Pulis took over and made only two substitute appearances after 31 January. He will have a chance to press his first-team claims at Liverpool next season, however, having recently signed a new four-year contract.
Tiago Ilori has rarely been seen at Liverpool since his £7m arrival from Sporting Lisbon, spending one season on loan at Granada and last term with Bordeaux, where his form and game-time improved after an injury-hit start. He has been linked with a permanent exit this summer but Rodgers’ continued problems in central defence may offer a belated opportunity to make an impression at Anfield. The Portugal Under-21 international João Carlos Teixeira is among the young Liverpool players Rodgers plans to utilise next season after scoring six goals in 35 appearances for Brighton & Hove Albion. However, he suffered a major setback in April when he broke his leg against Huddersfield Town and, with his Anfield contract expiring in 2016, time is against him as he looks to impress after recovery.
Dick Advocaat’s arrival at Sunderland transformed Sebastián Coates’ loan spell at the Stadium of Light as he went from fringe player to a solid performer in the club’s successful fight against relegation. He has 12 months remaining on his Liverpool contract and wants to stay in England but is highly unlikely to get that chance at Anfield.
Sheyi Ojo made 11 appearances for Wigan Athletic as their rapid descent continued with relegation to League One but, along with the brief Wigan loanee Jerome Sinclair, may start the season in Liverpool’s squad. AH
Manchester City
Remember Micah Richards? The man once touted as England’s long-term right-back solution is only just about to turn 27 but, after a season on loan with Fiorentina, where he played only 19 times, he will not be returning to the Etihad Stadium. Richards is out of contract with no possibility of a new deal: his summer will now be one of casting around whatever is on the table, with the Premier League said to be his favoured option but his former manager, Roberto Mancini, is said to rather fancy him at Internazionale.
Another talent that promised more is that of John Guidetti, now 23, who spent the season at Celtic and scored 15 times in 35 games. Guidetti now appears to have fallen out with the Celtic manager, Ronnie Deila, claiming that he was dropped after refusing to agree to a permanent deal, and where he now ends up is anyone’s guess – although Feyenoord, where he shone on loan in 2011-12, are believed to be interested. He will not be offered a new contract by City. Álvaro Negredo did not enjoy the most fruitful of campaigns with Valencia, scoring only six times in 34 outings, but reports in Spain suggest the club are now obliged to shell out £22m for him – and might even look to sell him on straight afterwards. One of City’s high-profile loanees has definitely found himself a permanent home: Scott Sinclair did not exactly light up Villa Park in his four months with Aston Villa after a good start that resulted in him scoring three in his first seven but he joined permanently in a £2.5m deal last month. That was apparently agreed at the start of his loan and, while Tim Sherwood did not always sound completely sold on the winger’s gifts, Sinclair now has three years to show them off at Villa Park.
Among a number of young players on the fringes of the first-team squad to have been loaned out was the Belgian defender Jason Denayer, who earned rave reviews in his season at Celtic and was named the PFA Young Player of the Year in Scotland. The 19-year-old also won his first three senior international caps and it is fair to assume that City still regard him as a genuine prospect. Karim Rekik, another young defender, impressed at the Dutch champions, PSV Eindhoven, who would like to loan him for a third successive year – but Rekik himself says that City plan to send him out to another league next term. NA
Manchester United
Like Chelsea, but to lesser extent, United operate two parallel businesses: the first team and the talent agency. There simply is not room in the squad for all the players they acquire but, frightened of missing out on anyone who might turn out to be good enough, they buy to loan. So Ángelo Henríquez was signed cheaply before spending two and a half of the last three years away from Old Trafford and last season he scored 20 goals in 25 appearances for Dinamo Zagreb. Now named in Chile’s squad for the Copa América, he has further opportunity to impress – most likely to earn himself a permanent move – but the departure of Radamel Falcao means there is at least one striking space at the club and Robin van Persie may also move on. Chances are that Henríquez will leave, even though his contract situation means the fee will be significantly less than the £4m they paid for him.
Another striker who looks certain for the off is Javier Hernández, unwilling to resume his specialist, substitute role and unwanted by Louis van Gaal in any event. Because his touch never developed to match his movement and finishing, he will likely have to settle for a spot at a mid-ranking club in England, Italy or Spain.
Both Nani and Nick Powell will also return – again, probably not for very long. In a way Nani is slightly unlucky, United’s best player during the only period in which he was picked consistently in his position. But, were his presence remotely required, they would not have paid Sporting Lisbon to take him away. Powell also has talent but his lack of pace – and perhaps application – means that a decent offer will see him leave.
Various other promising youngsters will be either loaned out or sold. Ben Pearson is not quite good enough to make it at United, so, too, Joe Rothwell, who has not recaptured the momentum he had prior to contracting glandular fever. Similarly, Jesse Lingard, a clever wide attacker, and Will Keane, a deft centre-forward, are, at 22, probably too old to remain but the 19-year-old Saidy Janko, an all-purpose right-sider, will be allowed another chance. DH
Newcastle United
Two of Newcastle’s loanees will effectively be arriving at St James’ Park for the first time, wide-eyed and blinking. The goalkeeper Karl Darlow and the centre-back Jamaal Lascelles joined a year ago from the Championship side Nottingham Forest, to whom they were loaned straight back for the season, and it will be interesting to see whether they fit into the plans of Steve McClaren, who will have seen them at close quarters while managing Derby. Both played regularly, and pretty well, for a Forest side that fell well short of promotion contention but whether either stood out is moot. The French midfielder Sylvain Marveaux will be back for pre-season training after a respectable year with the Ligue 1 side Guingamp, although how welcome he will be remains to be seen – he said last month that he felt “blacklisted” by the club and it is hard to envisage a long-term future for a player who disappointed after arriving in 2011.
The five players Newcastle loaned to Rangers will all return and among them is Haris Vuckic, who scored nine times in 22 games for Rangers and has attracted the interest of Nottingham Forest. Vuckic, who is nearly 23, is unlikely to slot straight into the Premier League and a Championship move may be a logical next step for the talented Slovenian forward. The future of Gaël Bigirimana, who did not kick a ball in Scotland after being diagnosed with a mystery illness, is even less certain. NA
Norwich City
Norwich’s expensive mistake from their relegation season in 2013-14 appears to be coming back – although a second crack at the top flight seems unlikely for Ricky van Wolfswinkel. The Dutchman scored only six times in 35 games for St Etienne last season and the French club have opted not to take up their purchase option. He returns to Carrow Road for now, although his reflections on his previous season in East Anglia – “I did not like my last year in England … I could not show my qualities or play every week, plus the team did not practise good football” – may not endear him to supporters if he does stick around.
Also up for grabs is Kyle Lafferty, who can do little wrong for Northern Ireland but did not produce the goods for Norwich after arriving from Palermo and was farmed out to the Turkish side Rizespor in February. He scored twice there and the Super Lig side are said to be keen on taking him permanently. The experienced centre-back Michael Turner will presumably move permanently to another good home in the Championship after finishing the season on loan at Fulham but less likely to be jettisoned are the exciting youngsters Josh Murphy and Louis Thompson, who are back from Wigan and Swindon respectively. The Championship may call for them once more but only on a temporary basis. NA
Southampton
Gaston Ramírez fought a losing battle at Hull to little effect, as one goal in 22 appearances since September testifies, and it seems certain that the Saints will look to offload him – perhaps back to Serie A. Dani Osvaldo is also sure to be moved on after completing a loan at his boyhood club Boca Juniors, where he scored seven in 15 games but appears to be out of the Argentinian club’s reach financially. Jos Hooiveld and Artur Boruc were both released on completing loans at Millwall and Bournemouth respectively, and Boruc soon signed on permanently with the club where he had enjoyed a remarkable promotion year along the south coast. Hooiveld has been linked with, among others, AIK Stockholm.
The winger Lloyd Isgrove extended his contract in March and showed some promise in a loan spell with the Championship side Sheffield Wednesday towards the end of the season. A full year in the second tier might be next for the 22-year-old, who needs to play regular football sooner rather than later. Two other youngsters, Jack Stephens and Jordan Turnbull, had superb seasons in Swindon’s defence during the Robins’ run to the play-off final and seem likely to be loaned out once more – with the Championship almost certain to be the next port of call for a pair who are rated highly within the Saints’ set-up. NA
Stoke City
The biggest pending situation among Stoke’s loanees is that of Robert Huth, who was integral to Leicester’s charge to Premier League survival after joining in February – among other things, scoring an important equaliser in a win at West Bromwich Albion. It seems likely that Nigel Pearson will get his man on a longer-term basis, with a £3m fee mooted, although the big centre-back’s future is yet to be decided for sure and it is not impossible that others may step in. More clear-cut is the future of the fans’ favourite and academy product Andy Wilkinson, who was released after returning from a loan at Millwall.
The other matter of interest involved the Scottish midfielder Jamie Ness, who won hearts and minds at Crewe during an excellent season in League One. The Railwaymen would love to have Ness back in the fold and their manager, Steve Davis, says they are waiting on how his situation with Stoke is resolved. The ex-Rangers man may well find that there are clubs in the Championship keen on his services, too – newly promoted Preston have been among those interested. NA
Sunderland
Sunderland must deal with the returns of Charalampos Mavrias, El-Hadji Ba and Valentin Roberge from Panathinaikos, Bastia and Reims respectively. It does not take a genius to suspect that the three, products of the ill-fated Roberto De Fanti transfer policy who have played only 15 games for the Black Cats between them, will not be sticking around for much longer, although Ba – who had the rotten luck to break his leg in October, which reduces the chances of Bastia making his deal permanent – is holding out some slim hope. “In football you can never fix your plans,” he said. “Sunderland are a good club and I enjoyed the year I spent there. It went well.” That might fall on deaf ears back in the north-east, as might any pleas from the 20-year-old French striker Mikael Mandron, whose four appearances on a youth loan with Shrewsbury passed without incident. NA
Swansea City
Michu is back from a disastrous loan at Napoli that yielded only five appearances, no goals and a rash of injuries but Garry Monk does not seem especially keen to let the Spaniard – such a revelation with his 22 goals in 2012-13 – hang around. “It was Michu’s decision last summer to move to Napoli and I supported that decision for various reasons,” he said in May. “It’s unlikely Michu’s opinion has changed suddenly after being away from the club for a full year and wanting to try something new.”
None of Swansea’s other returnees really seem to have a long-term future although Modou Barrow and Jazz Richards made some late Premier League appearances after coming back from loans at Nottingham Forest and Fulham. Dwight Tiendalli returned early from his stint at Middlesbrough after becoming frustrated at a lack of playing time and it seems unlikely that this situation will improve if he hangs around in south Wales. Ryan Hedges, who scored twice in Leyton Orient’s failed battle against the League One drop, impressed enough to sign a new contract this month, though, and the young defenders Josh Sheehan and Stephen Kingsley also did creditably in Yeovil Town’s own demotion. They may be ones to watch but definitely leaving are Rory Donnelly – released after a loan at Tranmere – and, more emotionally, the club legend Alan Tate, who played 26 times on loan at Crewe and will, after 340 appearances in the Swans’ rise through the leagues, now carry on elsewhere. Newport County are said to be among those interested. NA
Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs like a loan as much as the next big club but perhaps the most intriguing of their many returnees is Dele Alli, who completed the League One season with the promotion winners MK Dons despite signing for Mauricio Pochettino’s side in January and ended up winning the Football League’s Young Player of the Year award to boot. Alli is a wonderfully gifted attacking midfielder and it is hard to see him carry on in a lower division; he has expressed confidence that he can get into Spurs’ side but it could perhaps be that one of the likely relegation strugglers inquires about picking him up in the short term. There is also the business of Aaron Lennon, back after a decent six months at Everton in which he scored twice in 14 games, to sort out. Lennon looks sure to leave and has been linked with a slew of mid-table clubs; his preference is to join Roberto Martínez and company for the long haul but cash may yet be an issue. Lewis Holtby is back, too, after a less than stellar time with the Bundesliga relegation battlers Hamburg – but may still head back there on a permanent deal. Even if not, Germany appears likely to be his long-term destination.
The future of Alex Pritchard, the little schemer who had a wonderful season on loan with Brentford in the Championship – scoring 12 in 47 games in their run to the play-offs – will also make interesting viewing. He is 22 and needs to be playing games; Pochettino says that “he is in our plans for next season” but there will be vultures hovering elsewhere in the top two divisions. Tom Carroll, now 23, played only 18 times during his season at Swansea and his future is unclear – although he has expressed a wish to fight for his place and played well in the post-season friendly with a Malaysia XI. He saw that trip as a chance to “impress the gaffer” but a decent bid would probably see him head off this summer. The right-back Ryan Fredericks, who managed 19 games in a season at Middlesbrough, is back too but Tottenham seem well stocked in that area and the 22-year-old is likely to leave, whether permanently – perhaps to the Championship – or on another loan. NA
Watford
The Spanish right-back Juanfran was signed from Real Betis last summer and immediately sent to Deportivo La Coruña, where he became a key member of their first team in an ultimately successful battle against relegation from La Liga. He is due to return to Hertfordshire this summer, where the team could benefit from his reliability at right-back, but recently declared his intention to remain in Galicia. Whether the appointment of a Spaniard as manager might sway him is unclear. The Algerian defender Essaïd Belkalem has a curious recent history: he spent the 2013-14 season on loan from Granada to Watford and after 10 largely unimpressive appearances they surprisingly decided to exercise their option to sign him permanently. Fortunately he was significantly more impressive at the World Cup than he had been in Hertfordshire, earning a season at Trabzonspor. He played 16 league games for the Turkish side, and eight times in Europe, and his experience may prove useful to the Hornets should a mooted move to Fenerbahce not come off.
Watford’s most confused loanee last season was the muscular striker Uche Ikpeazu, who joined Crewe in November and extended his loan in January, only for that deal to be cancelled the following day so he could join Doncaster instead. After eight games there – one of those against Crewe – he returned to Watford, and immediately rejoined Crewe for the remainder of the season. His second spell (actually his third, having also spent the second half of the previous season there) was less successful and, with a year of his deal at Watford to run, his future is decidedly uncertain. SB
West Bromwich Albion
Graham Dorrans spent the last few months of the season assisting Norwich City’s promotion from the Championship and immediately signed full-time for the Canaries. Others have a less clear-cut future: the 21-year-old defender Donervon Daniels spent the season with Blackpool and then Aberdeen, playing 29 times in total, and has signed a one-year contract extension but another spell away looks likely for him. Georgios Samaras has pulled up few trees in his half-season loan with the Saudi club Al-Hilal, who are unlikely to take up an option to sign him permanently, but he will almost certainly not play for the Baggies again and his next move will probably take him elsewhere in Europe – with Portugal said to be a possibility. NA
West Ham United
How Slaven Bilic decides to work with his new squad is a mystery as yet but it would be a surprise if Mauro Zárate, who signed a three-year contract last summer, is high in his thoughts. Zárate’s half-season loan at QPR took in four appearances and a club ban and fine for reacting angrily to non-selection for a game at Liverpool in May. The chances of his career in England continuing appear slim to nil, although the co-owner David Gold has said he will return to pre-season training. Modibo Maïga is in a similar boat although he did, at least, score nine times in 26 games for the Ligue 1 side Metz during the season. He will leave, probably for France on a permanent deal, but at least with his reputation salvaged a little. The young striker Paul McCallum is among those to have been released by the club – his main contribution to a loan stint at Portsmouth was a seven-match ban, awarded in February, for a mixture of violent contact and allegedly making contact with the referee Lee Collins in a game at Southend. NA
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