To loan or not to loan?

There is a long tradition in English football of young players getting loan moves but the new wave of top Premier League managers prefer a different way, writes Adam Bate.

“When you look at the number of loans that happen here and there, the whole system has to be thought about again,” argued Arsene Wenger last month. “It is one of the big problems in the modern game. The reflex is to stockpile the players. That’s not right.”

Wenger’s verdict on the state of the loan system was interpreted as a not-so-veiled dig at rivals Chelsea given the number of players that the Blues have lent to other clubs in recent years. But it was also an attempt to address a wider problem in the game.

“The way a youth team is organised now is that all the best young players go to the richest clubs, which is where they have fewer chances to develop,” added the Arsenal manager.

There is clearly a desire to tackle the issue. Some see B teams as the solution, although the reworked Checkatrade Trophy has not been well received. Others still regard loan moves as the best way to give young talent the first-team experience needed to aid their progress.

Ashley Cole and Jack Wilshere benefited from loans in their younger years under Wenger, and they are not alone. At the last World Cup, more than half of England’s squad had spent time on loan from their parent club during their careers.

Almost all regard the experience as a positive one. Whether it’s Frank Lampard’s eyes being opened by rooming with a senior pro at Swansea or Adam Lallana having to grow up quickly with Bournemouth in League One, tales abound of stars being toughened up by a loan spell.

But while loans remain common-place, perhaps the attitude to them is changing. There are a growing number of top coaches who are reluctant to send their best young players away. The men now in charge of the Premier League’s biggest clubs see things a little differently.

Wenger himself had a taste of what can go wrong with a loan deal when Serge Gnabry’s five months at West Brom yielded only 12 …

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