The loan system in football makes sense to me if a club is sending youngsters to another club to gain experience. But after that it’s nothing but a farce and its rules should be changed. Teams shouldn’t be allowed to loan out seasoned professionals simply as a way to reduce the wage bill and/or get their playing roster down to the maximum allowed.
To me, Arsenal sending players such as Nicklas Bendtner, Ju-Young Park and Marouane Chamakh on loan means they’re seen as surplus requirements to the squad and obviously aren’t thought of very highly by the club’s upper echelon. These guys are senior internationals and certainly don’t need to play elsewhere to gain experience.
The loan system was designed for players such as the Gunners’ Ryo Miyaichi. He’s young and it’s understandable that he needs to gain a certain amount of experience. But overall, the system should be scrapped. You could easily debate that Miyaichi would have been better off training with Arsenal’s squad full of internationals last season than he was playing at Wigan.
He missed most of the season due to injuries and when he was healthy, then-manager Roberto Martinez was hesitant to use him. I really don’t see what, if any experience, the promising young Japanese midfielder/forward gained by spending a year with the Latics. I’d also like to know who treated his injuries and supervised his recovery while up in Wigan. Was it their medical staff or Arsenal’s?
We’re also constantly hearing complaints about too many overseas players in the Premier League and the facts back that up. If the loan system is to remain the rules should be changed to state that no overseas players can be signed and loaned out. If a club wants to sign foreign footballers instead of homegrown talent they should be stuck with them on their roster.
We all know some of the richer clubs sign players just so nobody else can have them and they horde them on their rosters. They then realize they’ve got too many players on the books and some are nowhere near as good as they thought they were and they’re sent out on loan. I propose that the only players eligible for loans are those under the age of 23 and/or those who have played fewer than 40 Premier League matches.
Arsene Wenger is simply going by the rules when he loans players, but it’s obvious the club’s scouting department hasn’t done a very good job if so many of them are sent elsewhere. Wenger and Arsenal have so far loaned out or released at least 11 players during the offseason, which is the most in the league. Francis Coquelin and Johan Djourou have been loaned while Andrey Arshavin, Denilson, Conor Henderson, Jernade Meade, and Sebastien Squillaci have been released. Craig Eastmond, Kyle Ebecilio, Sanchez Watt and Jordan Wynter were transferred for free and goalkeeper Vito Mannone was sold to Sunderland.
There’s also a good chance Bendtner, Chamakh, Ju-Young Park, Miyaichi, Joel Campbell and Emmanuel Frimpong will be loaned out again this season. I don’t agree with loaning anybody out until every player has had a chance to prove himself in pre-season training and games. What was the rush with Coquelin and Djourou? They may have been two of the top players on the squad if they hadn’t been shipped out so early on. Also, nobody knows how many injuries a team may suffer during the pre-season and who’s going to suffer them. We all know Jack Wilshere missed more than a season after hurting himself in a pre-season match two years ago. If Wenger is to play the loan arranger, at least wait until the pre-season has ended and see what state the squad is in.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
