What to make of our players on loan?

 Have a look at the loan watch update pages on the Arsenal website and you will find that there are 15 players (I nearly missed out Pedro Botelho because his name wasn’t highlighted!). That in olden times would be one short of the 15 player match squad for league games. Of course now you can have 7 substitutes but you get what I mean.

One of the upsides, if you can call it that of having a smaller squad is that younger players (those at U-18 level) have a better chance of progressing from the youth to reserve to first team status. A lot of the players at U-18 who played in the FA Youth Cup often play in reserve games where you can find scouts taking notes of the up coming players. Obviously at Arsenal some of the gems get to play in the Carling cup and get noticed further. Mark Randall who had a spell last year at Burnley is the latest to be wanting an opportunity to play first team football temporarily on loan.

 

What level should the loan players be plying their trade? Should some of them be playing at the lower tiers for a whole season or is couple of games at the higher tiers enough.

I remember a few games were enough for Ashley Cole and David Beckham. But Bendtner played a whole season at Birmingham. The balance needs to be right and sometimes it isn’t very straightforward.

Here are my predictions of the players currently on loan.Havard Nordtveit – Struggled to get a game in his early season loan spell, now at Lillestrom in native norway. Allegedly not the quickest but has good understanding of the game which is always good. Needs lot of first team games as he was injured for a long time last season.

 

Vincent van den Berg – Second loan spell in two years and is still a young player. Have not seen him, although being a dutch player I expect him to have good technical quality. Whether he can hack it in England is another matter. My guess is that he probably won’t make it at Arsenal.

Abu Ogogo – Playing at Barnet, converted to a right back so obviously has the stamina to play in that position. I heard that he nearly played in the Carling cup. Probably needs a loan spell at a bigger club next season.

Kerrea Gilbert – Played a few games for the Arsenal first team back in 2005. Didn’t do exceptionally well but wasn’t down right awful either. Seems like a Justin Hoyte type then. Loan spells at Cardiff, Southend and now the entire season at Leicester suggest that either he is stil thought of highly or is slowly fazed out of Arsenal.

Pedro Botelho – Haven’t seen him play yet so wouldn’t be fair to make any sort of prediction. Brazilian though, so must have some sort of technique and skill. Mind you we had Baptista albeit an older Brazilian at the Emirates and apart from a couple of games he was pretty useless!

James Dunne – No idea about this guy, Isn’t he signing for Forest permanently after his loan spell?

Rene Steer – One loan at Gillingham, where they are giving opportunities to younger players anyway I think. Left back, as you will read later you’ll understand why I can’t see him progressing further at Arsenal.

Paul Rodgers – Played 45 minutes against Burnley in the League Cup quarter final and looked out of place. Not the best of starts. Now at Northampton, the jury is out on whether he can hack it at first team level for the Gooners.

Henri Lansbury – Enthusiastic midfielder rated highly, I think he once said he wanted to play like Gerrard. If he is half the player Gerrard is I will be very happy. Played at right back against Burnley, could see him getting the crowd going at the Emirates.

Rui Fonte, – Portuguese striker on loan at Palace. Thought he was a lazy striker who relied on killer passes but actually has good work rate. Impressive, will have to watch out for him then.

Gavin Hoyte – Reserve team captain, currently on loan at Watford. 3 league cup appearances and a league debut against Man City at the Eastlands suggest Arsene rates him fairly highly. Very fast as well as you would read on the arsenal website. I hope he has more determination to succeed than his brother Justin.

 

Nacer Barazite – Saw him in a friendly against Barnet and he was quite lively. An attacking type midfielder, he seemed to orchestrate play around him, intelligent player. Doing okay at Derby from what I’ve heard although I haven’t seen him play for them yet. Technically okay, but needs to bulk up a little to stand up to tough tackling in the Prem. Will find it tough to break through at Arsenal though.

Jay Simpson – I was very happy to see Jay get his chance against Wigan and I thought he did well. His aerial ability caused problems and he was fairly lively. Was a surprise he never played again in the league cup. Signed for Mowbray’s West Brom team and his initial games were promising. Haven’t seen him since then, although I can’t help but think he plays within himself. He can do much better.

Armand Traore- Most likeliest of the players on loan to become an integral member of the first team squad. You know this guy oozes talent when he makes his league cup debut at Anfield, aged 16 i think. Blistering pace and played well against Everton in the league game last season. On loan at Portsmouth and played a fair amount of games. His direct run across the box helped towards Nugent’s goal at White Hart Lane. So obviously that was good. When he comes back, I hope to see him challenge Clichy. Silvestre could be third choice left back and that’s why I don’t see Steer making it at Arsenal.

So thats my assesment or prediction if you will, of the players on loan. What do you think?

Advertisement