Words on.....loan

There was a time when loans were used only to give cover when injuries struck, or to give an out-of-favour player some game time, but they are now becoming an increasingly important part of youth development.

The main motivation for a club like Chelsea to allow a player to go out on loan is that it provides promising youngsters the opportunity to play first-team football when the chance for them to do so in a blue shirt is limited. Progress can be closely monitored in an environment more challenging than playing in the reserves.
Sporting director Michael Emenalo, who took over from the outgoing Frank Arnesen this summer, sat down with the official Chelsea website to discuss the club's approach to loans.

'You want to send players on loan to gain experience and see where they are in their development,' the Nigerian explains. 'If they are in touching distance with the first team we like them to go to the Premier League and see how close they are, how mentally developed and tactically aware they are.

'We feel when we recruit these players it is because they have a certain quality that is above and beyond the average Premier League team, so we want them to go out and show that quality and gain experience.'
The perfect example of that model working well was Daniel Sturridge, who went to Bolton in the second half of last season and scored eight times in 12 games, prompting his inclusion in Andre Villas-Boas's early selections this season, rewarded by a first England call-up this week.

'There is a possibility of being bored playing in reserve football and it gives them an opportunity to go out and experience professional competition in front of bigger crowds,' Emenalo concedes. 'What's happening now is that we find ourselves in a situation where the reserve team is a confused platform - players don't know how they should be pursuing their ambitions, so they can think about going on loans as soon as possible, but sometimes they are not ready.
'We have discussed and tried to address that and in the next few months the clubs will be working on trying to have a reserve league that is a bit more competitive.'
Reserve football is one of the topics being covered in discussions around the Premier League's Elite Player Performance Plan, though Emenalo and Chelsea's Academy head Neil Bath both believe there is a future for the second string.
Chelsea currently have 10 players operating elsewhere, nine of which are youngsters looking to turn their potential into a regular place at Stamford Bridge. How though, does Emenalo identify which players are suitable for a loan, and indeed where they should go?

'It's always better if a club comes to you,' he stresses.
'One thing that used to happen is that if a club came to us we would get excited and want the player to go. Now I think we like to ask questions and find out if the club knows about the player they want, have they done a scouting report on him, what are they looking to do with him, so we have that discussion and if we're not sure we don't send the player.

'In the past we made the mistake of accepting for players to go without knowing what the club wanted. Now I want them to come to us with a clear strategy of how they wish to use and develop our player.

'For us it's about timing and the needs of the manager. Andre is very detailed and organised with what he needs - he has a number of players in the squad for the way he wants to train.

'When you buy a quality young player, the competition is really heavy and there is no chance of them making any progress if they will not be playing regularly. We may feel they have too much quality to be in the reserve squad where they could stagnate, so you can make a decision even before you sign them that this can be the case, and you agree with them what will happen.

'Thinking of Thibaut Courtois, he is an outstanding young talent and playing at one of the top clubs in Spain - Atletico Madrid.

'Here we have a world-class goalkeeper in Petr Cech who is only 29 years old, there is no point Thibaut being here just picking up balls in training sessions.

'We signed Ulises Davila from Mexico in the summer. He is young and not physically mature, coming from a league in Mexico that is different from the English Premier League. So the thought there is that he can go to Holland with Vitesse Arnhem where the pace is not so frenetic and he can adapt to Europe and we will see where we go from there.

'They are very good talents though and we wanted to invest in them for the future.'

The 19-year-old Courtois has replaced Manchester United's new signing David De Gea in goal at Atletico, going in as number one and turning in a number of eye-catching performances that have not gone unnoticed at his parent club.

'We use different strategies to monitor them,' Emenalo says. 'With Courtois it is simple, Christophe Lollichon watches his games and analyses them on video, as well as talking with the player and reports it to me.

'We also get reports from the clubs they are at and we also ask our scouts in the area to go and watch them when it is possible and report on how they are doing.

'As an assistant coach Steve Holland is a liaison point for those in touching distance with the first team and will talk with the players and the clubs, and Dermot Drummy will deal with the other players, both reporting in to me.'
So just how are our young charges doing while away from SW6?

'Tomas Kalas is doing exceptionally well for Vitesse, and Courtois has a superb record in Spain and is one of the top performing goalkeepers in La Liga,' Emenalo points out.
'Gael Kakuta is getting rave reviews about his training at Bolton but is having difficulty breaking into the team, but has been terrific when he has played. Patrick van Aanholt started very well at Wigan but eventually lost his place when they had some poor results and the manager, Roberto Martinez, wanted to revert to what he had had before, so we have told him to work hard and stick with it.

'It's always a bit hit and miss but more hit than miss, and we are happy with where we are.'
It seems that while they may not be around the club every day, the Chelsea players operating elsewhere are neither out of sight nor mind.

Courtois has been an ever-present for Atletico, who are 11th in the 20-team La Liga. Defender Kalas (pictured above, right) suffered his first defeat in seven Vitesse appearances at the weekend, beaten 1-0 at NAC Breda. Davila has appeared just twice so far.
Croatian goalkeeper Matej Delac is still awaiting his Dynamo Ceske Budejovice debut in Czech Republic, but Jeffrey Bruma has been a regular with Hamburg until suffering an injury that will keep him out of this week's internationals - he has appeared seven times in the Bundesliga for the German side.
In England, goalkeeper Sam Walker has made himself first choice at Northampton Town in League Two, and has turned out 20 times this season already.
Up in the Premier League, Gael Kakuta has been limited to just four Bolton appearances, but scored in the Carling Cup on his debut away at Aston Villa. Patrick van Aanholt has had a similar time with bottom club Wigan, starting four times.
Conor Clifford will link up with League One Yeovil Town after his international duty with Ireland, while finally Yossi Benayoun, 31, has turned out seven times so far in his season-long loan with Arsenal.