Rashford among eight Premier League loanees who should be given a second chance
As Premier League clubs scour the market for new additions to bolster their squads, solutions can be found for several of them through players returning from loan moves.
We’ve compiled a list of eight players set to return to their parent clubs this summer who deserve a second chance.
Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)
None of the Rashford transfer saga makes a great deal of sense.
We don’t know why Barcelona have signed Anthony Gordon for three times as much as they could have paid for Rashford, even given the difference in wages. We don’t know why they don’t want to pay £26m for a guy who got 14 goals and 14 assists for them even after signing Gordon. We don’t know why Rashford is point-blank refusing to consider a move to Arsenal or Bayern Munich. And we don’t know why United are dead-set against giving him a second chance when they so evidently need a left winger.
The relationship was tense between him and Ruben Amorim and it was absolutely the right call for him to be loaned out to Aston Villa and then Barcelona to reinvigorate his career.
He’s back to somewhere near his best and United are on an upward trajectory post-Amorim. Surely it’s at least worth Rashford sitting down with Michael Carrick as the club would have to pay at least £50m for an alternative player at his level and far more if they want someone a bit younger.
Luka Vuskovic (Tottenham)
Marcos Senesi has already signed on a free transfer from Bournemouth and Tottenham are pushing hard to reunite Roberto De Zerbi with Brighton’s Jan Paul van Hecke while Micky van de Ven continues to be linked with Liverpool and with Cristian Romero sure to leave.
After consecutive 17th-place finishes there’s obvious value in signing centre-backs who know the Premier League. What Spurs don’t want – particularly given what we all expect to be a tough period of tactical adaptation under De Zerbi after initially curbing many of his more complication instructions to save them from relegation – is a bunch of new players who require a significant amount of time to get used to the English top flight.
But there should be an exception made for a 19-year-old they already own who’s valued at €60m [£52m] and may well end up at either Liverpool or Chelsea if they allow him to leave this summer.
“Why not give him a chance?” asks Tottenham hero Toby Alderweireld, who played against Vuskovic in Belgium and hailed the teenager as a “very good defender”.
Nicolas Jackson (Chelsea)
Reports suggest it was Enzo Maresca’s diminished confidence in Jackson which led him to depart for Bayern Munich on loan last summer. With Maresca gone and Chelsea going via Liam Rosenior to hire Xabi Alonso, it’s claimed that the Senegal international is in line for a second chance at Stamford Bridge.
He remains ‘highly regarded’ by the BlueCo bosses and Alonso will at the very least ‘evaluate’ the forward when he returns to Chelsea after the World Cup before deciding whether to sanction his exit, as the Blues seek an optimistic €70m [£60m] for his transfer.
Jackson’s finishing often left plenty to be desired but 30 goals and 12 assists in 81 appearances is a serviceable return but he’s more than a handful for opposition defenders and was a fantastic stooge for Cole Palmer, whose downturn this season should at least in part be put down to Jackson not being around to open up space for him to operate through his runs beyond the opposition defence.
No-one is buying consistent game time as his reason for wanting to leave on the back of a season playing as the second-est of second fiddles to Harry Kane and wanting to prolong his stay at Bayern to play (or rather not play) in that role, and Alonso can also offer Jackson the opportunity to play from the left wing as neither Alejandro Garnacho or Jamie Gittens have shown they have what it takes to provide much competition in that position.
Arnaud Kalimuendo (Nottingham Forest)
Signed for £25m last summer on the back of a 17-goal Ligue 1 season for Stade Rennais, Kalimuendo will have been well within his rights to ask the club why the p*ssing hell they bought him after playing 88 Premier League minutes under three managers before being sent out on loan to Frankfurt in January.
It wasn’t as if Igor Jesus or Chris Wood were banging goals in for fun and quite why Kaliumeno wasn’t given an opportunity after scoring in consecutive Europa League games – in two of just three starts for Forest – is something of a mystery.
The 24-year-old understandably wants to remain at Frankfurt after playing close to every minute for the Bundesliga side in the second half of the season, scoring six goals, but with an asking price of around £20m a sticking point he’s set to be dragged kicking and screaming back to the City Ground.
Forest can either accept a a low-ball offer or give Kalimuendo the chance to prove himself that he’s not been afforded to date. He’s unlikely to be the solution to their striker woes and Vítor Pereira will presumably want to add a more proven goalscorer to his ranks this summer, but as a second string option he’s surely worth a go.
Tyrique George (Chelsea)
A half-season loan at Everton wasn’t as useful as Chelsea and George will have hoped – he started just once and featured for 210 minutes in total – and if you had taken straw polls of Blues fans asking who they would have preferred on the left wing while George was away on Merseyside a majority would have picked him over Garnacho.
He might not be good enough but given Chelsea’s rich history of allowing academy players to leave without knowing that yet, George is worth a look under Alonso.
Diego Coppola (Brighton)
Brighton signed him from Hellas Verona for around £10m in the summer and then sent him out on loan to Paris FC in January after five Premier League appearances and two starts.
Fabian Hurzeler says the Seagulls got “exactly what we wanted” from the loan as Coppola played every minute of 13 games for the Ligue 1 side, but is supposedly open to his exit this summer amid interest from Lazio and other Serie A suitors.
As more of an old school, physical centre-back, Coppola won’t be seen as a direct replacement for Jan Paul van Hecke – who’s seemingly on his way to Tottenham – but represents a promising alternative to Lewis Dunk as the Brighton captain enters his twilight years at the age of 34.
Carl Rushworth (Brighton)
Coventry will have to smash their transfer record (currently £7.7m for Haji Wright) – almost certainly not for the last time this summer after their return to the Premier League – if they’re to land Rushworth after his hugely impressive loan stint last season.
Brighton are said to want around £20m and it’s claimed the Sky Blues are now awaiting a response after placing a formal bid for the 24-year-old over the weekend.
Retaining Rushworth may hinge on the future of Bart Verbruggen, who’s attracting interest from Tottenham among others, but even if the Dutchman stays the Seagulls could split goalkeeping responsibility between the pair on their return to Europe.
Vitor Reis (Manchester City)
“From my info in Girona, he was unbelievable,” Pep Guardiola said in April when asked if Reis would be part of the City squad next season. That’s now a decision to be made by Enzo Maresca, of course.
He had a 91% pass success rate and ranked in the 93rd percentile for touches to prove himself as a centre-back who’s technically secure in possession and also illustrated his composure while playing in a high line and a standout ability to read the game. He sounds an awful lot like the now departed John Stones.
