Loans
Having listened to the excellent bluntphil on the Roker Rapport podcast recalling how we have added value various loan players over the years (Eze, Mawson etc) I do wonder whether this year Gaz and the team are taking a different approach. Having 'added value' to the likes of Muskwe, Knight and Adeniran only to see them snapped up by 'rival' clubs, perhaps this year we're prioritising adding value to our own development players. Having already assembled a large squad I wouldn't be shocked if we didn't get any loans in (barring injury of course). Thoughts?
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I’d still like some wingback cover.
Loan, development player or teletext ringer?
Looking at how things are coming together, I'm inclined to agree
As long as we get CB cover in and McCarthy and Freeman are back soon, I am happy.
In the past we’ve been looking for loans to play key roles and therefore selling the club to player and club has been easier. Now we have talent across the park we will be looking for a loan to be cover or a cherry on the cake. A harder sell for sure.
In my opinion the player we haven’t replaced from last season is Knight. He was an excellent player and pretty rare as he could cover CB and CM. We have good midfield cover now but CB is a bit thin and with an injury to Stewart or the returning Tafazolli, I think that would leave us exposed.
Whether we buy someone like Lavelle or get in another loan signing is going to be interesting but in general I think @YorkshireBlue is right and we seem to have decided to spend our money on permanent signings with a likelihood of developing the players to maybe sell on, instead of putting other teams players in the shop window.
I'd hadn't looked at it the way you've framed it before but yes, one could look at the development squad players as loanees we get to keep at the end of the season. Quite like that perspective, albeit there's unlikely to be many oven-ready Ezes or Mawsons finding their way into that group.
A quality loaner is always welcome, but there's nothing quite like players being your own.
I think Hereford were promoted one season with a large amount of loanees, then dropped like a stone the next season. Always remembered that as perhaps an extreme example. But it feels like we're developing as a club, handing out 3 year deals to transfer fee signings who might not be regulars!