To loan or not to loan

Over the years sending our young players out on loan has very rarely worked out for us. I have been critical of sending players out on loan as it has seen the end of so many promising players. But is it more of a case that the players have just been good enough?

For the first time we have seen a young player break through at Chelsea after spells out on loan. From the 2006/07 season through to 2010/11 season Ryan Bertrand had been out on loan of 5 different clubs playing nearly 150 games and none of those were at Premier League level. But the experience was invaluable and he finished those loans ready to make his step into the Chelsea first team, and this he is doing very well getting plenty of game time.

This is something that the club have now clearly looked at and see as a good model. We currently have a number of players carrying out successful loan spells. 

Romelu Lukaku is having a decent spell at West Brom gaining Premier League experience and having made 12 appearances scoring 5 goals is doing well. It is easy to forget that Romelu is only 19 years old and being fair to him should have been sent on loan last season also. Certainly he needs to spend the rest of the season getting as many games as possible and i would like to see him spend another season on loan after to come back to Chelsea a better player.

Kevin De Bruyne is excelling at Werder Bremen, coming from the Belgian league to the Premier League is a big step for a young player so i think it was the right choice to loan him out and he is getting regular game and is a big influence on the pitch for Bremem.

Josh McEachran is a player who suffered from trying too much too soon with a Premier League loan to Swansea. He made a dissapointing 4 appearances for Swansea last season whilst this season he has already made 17 for Middlesbrough and thriving on the game time and developing his game which is the whole point of loan moves.

Nathaniel Chalobah who is yet to turn 18 is also excelling on loan at Championship club Watford under Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola. Nathaniel has become a big hit at Watford and i now a key player for them. Again this experience in so valuable for him in his development and in a year or 2 with regular games i am certain will be a good player for our first team.

We have just sent out Todd Kane and Patrick Bamford to league 1 and initial responses have been very positive, especially on Patrick Bamford. The club need to find the right level to start these players with, if they are able to get the games they will show their quality and earn the right to play higher levels at Bertrand has done.

But are we also seeing the result of the quality of players being higher? Obviously players like Lukaku and De Bruyne already come with bundles of experience but it is very pleasing to see McEachran and Chalobah impress on a regular basis. Are the club finally starting to judge loan moves better or are our players going out better quality? I think it is a mix of both but it is certainly pleasing to see this improvement and hopefully it will enable us to bring through more Ryan Bertrands.