Just how do Arsenal compare when it comes to loaning players out?

By Tony Attwood

This summer I have been trying to look at how Arsenal compare with other clubs in terms of the way various matters are handled.  The first example has been the transfers in – looking to see if it is true that Arsenal always dither and never manage to get the deals done, while every other team is busy completing their transfer business by the second week of June.

So far that story has failed to be proven true – Arsenal are not much different from any other club, although we have still had tales from the bloggettas and Sky saying that Arsenal should have wrapped up deals much earlier, and claiming that yes there has been dithering.

The facts and figures there say otherwise, so while waiting for the next round of data to arrive I thought I would look at another area of summer football – the loans.   How many players per club are going on an away trip for six months or a year?

Arsenal have in fact only completed one loan deal – and that the expected continuation of the arrangements for our young Japanese player who as yet can’t get a permit to play in England.

In the past the normal route around this has been to have the player in a country with far more relaxed immigration regulations than the UK and then let the player in through EU regulations, but time is running out for this ploy, so we might see it coming to an end.

Mind you we might well see the whole transfer system coming to an end when we leave the EU – and I am surprised no one is talking about this – wasting all that chatter on nuclear power regulations and Euratom when they could be debating the transfer of footballers.  Have they no priorities?

Anyway, here is the list of players so far going out on loan.  Data from the Guardian.

From Total To Player
Arsenal 1 Stuttgart Asano
Bournemouth 1 Weymouth Travers
Brighton 2 Lincoln McGuire Drew
Wigan Walton
Burnley 3 Lincoln Ginnely
Wrexham Massanka
Southport Jackson
Chelsea 5 Vitesse Arnham Dabo
Swansea Abraham
Forest Green Rovers Collins
Hull City  Aina
Crystal Palace Loftus Cheek
Everton 4 Anderlecht Onyekuru
Sunderland Galloway
Wolfsberg Donker
Sunderland Browning
Huddersfield 2 Fleetwood Hiwula
Gateshead Horsfall
Manchester City 3 Breda Angelino
Norwich Gunn
Ipswich Celina
Manchester Utd 2 Northampton Poole
Shrewsbury Henderson
Newcastle 3 Anderlecht Sels
Bradford City Gilliead
Bury Heardman
Southampton 2 Norwich Reed
Yeovil Olomola
Swansea City 4 Shrewsbury James
Malaga Baston
Real Betis Amat
Middlesbrough Roberts
Tottenham 1 Gillingham Ogilvie
Watford 1 Crawley Lewis
West Brom 1 Werder Breman Zhang
West Ham 1 Oxford Borussia Mönchengladbach

Chelsea, as per previous years are out in the lead with five.   Everton and Swansea are just one loanee behind.

I wonder if this does mean that Chelsea tend to bring in vast numbers of young players and then loan them in the vague hope something will happen, while Arsenal are much more careful about who they bring in.

In the current squad the home grown list includes Kieran Gibbs, Jack Wilshere, and Carl Jenkinson who we assume are headed for the exit door, that leaves the us with the following Home Grown players:

  1. Damian Martinez
  2. Calum Chambers
  3. Rob Holding
  4. Héctor Bellerín
  5. Aaron Ramsey
  6. Francis Coquelin
  7. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
  8. Danny Welbeck
  9. Theo Walcott
  10. Jack Wilshere.

In terms of the juniors who might well be expected to be in next year’s first team squad we have

  • Alex Iwobi
  • Jeff Reine-Adelaide
  • Ainsley Maitland-Niles
  • Reiss Nelson

Also in Australia we have seen as home grown players

  • Krystian Bielik
    Cohen Bramall
    Donyell Malen
    Eddie Nketiah
    Joe Willock

Now this is a lot of home growing going on, and I wonder if the fact is that what Arsenal does in bringing through these youngsters and looking to give them a chance to shine in the first team is what most Premier League teams have given up doing.

What the rest do, by and large, is buy up the player in case he might be ok, and then send him out on loan to see what happens.  What we are doing is trying to fast track the brilliant 17 and 18 year olds rather than let them rot elsewhere.

Of course we do have loanees.  But I suspect not on the industrial scale of other clubs.  We like to keep as many as possible in house, playing in the under 23s and then launching them into the first team.

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9 Replies to “Just how do Arsenal compare when it comes to loaning players out?”

  1. Lanz, Bielik arrived before his 18th birthday which means that he will have the necessary 3 years before his 21st thereby qualifying for the homegrown rule. At least that’s my understanding.

  2. Tony, you have listed a player called Borussia Mönchengladbach going on loan from West Ham to Oxford?

  3. Interesting twist seems to be happening.
    As City seem to realise htey’ll not get Sanchez, they are said to be pursuing MBappé.
    Now thanks to AW’s efforts if they want him they’ll have to really break the bank.
    Guess this will mean less money other transferts or the need to sell more to buy others.
    Either way it makes their mercato strategy much more complicated.
    Make other players more expensive for the competition…that’s not bad either

  4. Yes, this article posting is in order. But talking about dithering, a term I will not label Le Prof such.
    Nonetheless, why didn’t Le Prof do the signings of Lacazette and Mbappe in last summer transfer window? These 2 players were reported in the media he wanted to sign them last summer. But in the case of that of Lacazette failed signing by Arsenal last summer, Le Prof vehemently was reported to have refused to agree to the transfer fee charged by Lyon before he can get the signing done? But instead, he turned his bidding to sign Lacazette to a quarrel with Lyon for their making his rejected bid to sign the player public. Both Lacazette and Mbappe would have been lesser in transfer fee chargeable in last summer transfer window when these players were available for signings than this summer window which has seen their transfer fees skyrocketed in the market particularly the Monaco asking transfer fee for Mbappe. Which had Le Prof do his transfer last summer, it would have been a done deal transfer done on the very cheap in comparison to the £125m Monaco are reported to be demanding this summer before they’ll let go the player.

    An Arsenal summer transfer rumour this window that went viral in the media of recent, had it that Arsenal want to sign the 6′ 4” 28 year old Nemenge Matic from Chelsea this summer. But will Chelsea not mind selling him to any of their Premier League rival clubs should Arsenal truly want to do the signing after they’ve done or before doing the Lemar signing from Monaco? Or will Antonio Conte, the Chelsea manager influenced the transfer of Matic to his old club Jeventus who are reported to want the player but if they can meet Chelsea asking price. But Arsenal maybe short in transfer cash this summer as the Arsenal board is reported to have limit Le Prof’s summer transfer kitty this summer to £100m spending. In the consequence of this limitation as Arsenal still still want to sign Lemar, will Chelsea accept a swap deal with Arsenal if Le Prof propose a swap deal to them whereby the swap will see a Gunner swapped for Matic. Like the swapped deal of Arsenal’s #CashCole swapped by Arsenal for Chelsea’s Williams Galas in the far past?

  5. “As City seem to realise htey’ll not get Sanchez, they are said to be pursuing MBappé.
    Now thanks to AW’s efforts if they want him they’ll have to really break the bank.”

    Then we’ll see if Mbappe’s inner-circle’s public stances are true.
    To mean, why he wants to stay at Monaco in advance of WC2018. Supposedly for guaranteed minutes.
    As– he’d only be a part-time starter at City– with the array of attackers already in tow.

    Recall? It was Pep who kept Alexis on the bench at Barca.

    Mbappe seems– thus far– to be wise beyond his years.
    He knows where best he’d develop if he moved to a big/bigger club.

    jw1

  6. On the issue of Arsenal dithering in doing their transfers, more so, this Summer as they are yet to get one top quality midfielder they are linked with to sign this summer, so that they’ll integrate him into the Arsenal squad who now on pre-season friendly games tour.

    As we are well aware, not all transfers incoming or outgoing are easy to conclude. Depending on the player wish who is to be transferred to come to us and his selling club willingness to sell him to us at a agreed price, Arsenal are not in position to force any incoming transfers. Save if the player wants to come to us and his club agreed to sell him to us at agreed price after due negotiation is concluded.

    Let’s not forget that Arsenal don’t have the kind of bottomless pit bank that is filled to the brim always with cash as it’s descending in it’s bottomless course. Wherein they can always dip their hands into it to sign any player at outrageous above the odds asking prices like some clubs in the Premier League seem to have and are always dipping their hands into it to sign their targets at the above the odds price.

    On the outgoing transfers issue at Arsenal this summer, for which some agitating Gunners who have demanded Le Prof start them in Arsenal games regularly and will not backdown in their agitation, And some on the fringe Gunners who Le Prof wants to sell or loan some of them out this summer to rationalize the size of his squad and and also at the same time used the proceeds resulting from their sales and from their loan out deals as recoup.

    So, there is still plenty of time at the disposal of Arsenal to get all their transfer deals over the line this summer before or on the transfer dead line day. Therefore, we should be patient in our eagerness to see some Gunners offloaded this summer. They will. So that we don’t fall into the trap of condemning Le Prof as dithering, whereas he’s not.

  7. Jack Wilshere seems to be on both your ‘stay’ and ‘remain’ lists Tony. Time for a referendum?
    May I also restate my (conspiracy?) theory re bringing in youngsters in order to loan them out/sell them. Such deals are permitted under FFP to be financed by owners under the ‘youth development’ rules. The revenues gained however can be used to benefit the first team squad related budget. Classic (FFP) money laundering.

  8. Is Alex Iwobi qualified to be U21 this season or not?

    I have been puzzled by this for a while and have found two different interpretations of the rule.

    Thanks in advance.

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