Back then in the 70s and 80s, loan signing was more often than not, made out of necessity. If an away team turned up for a match and is a man or two short, perhaps due to injuries or travel problems, they would borrow some players from the home team (opponent) in order to make up the numbers.
Loaning of players was common during football’s early days, although, it wasn’t accepted ab-initio, as time goes on and almost everything about life and mankind witnessed a revolution, it became acceptable by clubs and organizers of competitions. Since then, loan transfers have been in existence.
The signing of players from one club to the other is one of many beautiful things about club football; it is that part of the game that clearly defines the loyalty, professionalism, and also sportsmanship of the player and the club involved.
Seeing a player from a particular club featuring a loanee for another club and doing fantastically well against his parent club is always amusing to witness. Talk of this season, before the commencement of the leagues across Europe, many players were loaned from clubs to other clubs for different reasons.
The transfers of Philipe Countinho from Barcelona to Bayern and Sanchez’s move from Manchester United to Inter Milan are obviously the biggest of them, simply because of the expectations that were placed on the two players when they joined Barca and United respectively.
Unfortunately, both became the biggest of flops for their parent clubs as well as the clubs they’re having their loan spells.
That said, having considered the big financial and economical blow that most clubs have suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, more and bizarre loan signing are expected to happen in the next transfer window because clubs with contract complications with some of its players would want to take some steps as regards not losing important players and having a stronger squad.
On that note, we look at a few loan signings in European football this season that were successful.
1. Mauro Icardi – Inter Milan to Paris Saint Germain
Icardi was Inter’s captain and talisman for years with the Nerazzurri, but due to a cold war that broke out between Inter and Icardi, he was ostracized from the team and this led to his loan move from San Siro to Paris when the Italian giant decided they want to rebuild the team which also coincided with Antonio Conte’s arrival at the club.
Icardi might be very controversial, but that doesn’t take away his quality as a reliable and potent striker. And as a result, he broke into the front-three at PSG and mostly starts ahead of Edinson Cavani.
Before Covid-19 ensured that the Ligue1 was canceled, Icardi had netted 20 goals; and also helped PSG to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League.
This deal can be classified as a win-win case for every party involved as Inter looks to have moved on from the Argentine after getting Romelu Lukaku as Icardi’s replacement and fortunately for Inter, the Belgian forward has hit the ground running.
For Icardi, his efforts for the Les Parisians didn’t go unnoticed. He’s been signed permanently to replace the aging Edinson Cavani; a deal that has been tagged as spot-on by most pundits and tagged the best loan signing in recent years.
2. Chris Smalling – Manchester United to AS Roma
The Manchester United team is filled with so many irresponsible and clumsy players but how Smalling who at some point was United’s best defender was sacrificed for the arrival of an overrated Harry Maguire other defenders that are sore to the eyes remains inexplicable.
When Smalling joined Roma, most people thought it was a bad business but the English international has proven again that he was never the problem at United.
And for United, the club is still enduring shambolic and appalling defensive performances. As it was stated in our Arsenal’s Defensive Woes piece, to form a formidable defense most times depends on the pairing made by the manager at the heart of the defense.
Smalling has shown at Roma that a partnership with himself and Phil Jones would result in nothing but a colossal disaster; and Jones, on the other hand, is not even a regular in Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s team. Smalling is definitely one of the best loan signing this season
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The Englishman has been a leader at the Giallorossi center back and also one of the very best in the Italian league this season. He has barely ever been dribbled past and in 21 league games, has been cautioned just once.
The responsible thing for Smalling’s parent club (Manchester United) to do now is to have him back in the team and not risk letting him join Roma permanently as this reeks of nothing for Smalling but a permanent move away from Old Trafford considering the consistent link with Roma.
3. Achraf Hakimi – From Real Madrid to Borussia Dortmund
Hakimi was forced to leave the Santiago Bernabeau on loan when he couldn’t contend for the right-back spot in the Real Madrid team, but even the Moroccan full-back wouldn’t have known what was waiting ahead for him.
Hakimi is currently on loan at Borussia Dortmund, and at the end of the season, he’s expected to head back to Madrid having completed his loan spell at the Bundesliga club. Given his stellar career at Dortmund, Hakimi has been linked with a number of moves, with parent club Real Madrid facing a decision when it comes to the fullback’s future.
Talking about loan singing, in his two-year loan spell, Hakimi has built up his reputation as one of the best right-backs in the world. He is blessed with an astonishing pace and with a spice of creativity to his play, all of these have increased massively in the 21-year-old at Dortmund.
Before Dortmund’s ouster from the Champions League, Hakimi was their highest scorer in the competition this season with four goals.
However, in recent days, Inter has jumped into the lead in the race to sign the Moroccan star, with the Italian side linked with a €40 million (£36m/$45m) deal to bring him to Italy.
4. Mario Pašalić – From Chelsea to Atalanta
Although he’s loan signing has been made permanent by the Italian club some days back, the Croatian playmaker is one of the revelations of this season.
Chelsea is a notorious club for loaning out players and they’ve done this for many years so much so that they’ve ignorantly released some brilliant players who should be their main players as of now.
Pašalić is one of those brilliant players that has been released by the club unknowingly. He joined Atalanta in 2018 from Chelsea and his career can be said to be on the rise since then.
His versatility has been one of the main strings to his bow, operating as a number eight, as well as a more attacking Number 10. Pašalić has been praised for his engine room displays, most notably by club captain Alejandro ‘Papu’ Gómez.
He’s featured for Gasperini Gian Piero’s side this season for 34 times in all competitions, netting just 5 times in all, but considering how Atalanta plays, a system where any player can get the goals; one should not be surprised as per his goal record.
5. Dean Henderson – From Manchester United to Sheffield United
Henderson is one of the best shot-stoppers in the Premier League this season, having kept 10 clean sheets in the league, a feat which puts him joint second in the race for the Golden Glove.
His loan is due to expire on 30 June, but with the pandemic bringing the league to a halt for 100 days, he’s been forced to remain at Bramall Lane for the rest of the 2019-20 campaign, which now ends on 26 July.
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The Englishman with his scintillating performance is set to mount the goalpost for Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions at the Euros after creating the opportunity of playing in Europe next season under Chris Wilder and his teammates.
6. Martin Odegaard – From Real Madrid to Real Sociedad
The beautiful thing about loaning out a player is when the player returns to his parent club as an improved player. Martin Odegaard looks set to be the replacement of Luka Modriç for Zinedine Zidane has had three loan spells at Vitesse and Heerenveen in the Netherlands.
This young Norwegian is arguably LaLiga’s best best-attacking midfielder this season, he’s averaged a league-high 2.5 key passes per game and is one of the key men in a fascinating Sociedad team.
