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Loan moves in football have become ever-common in the decade between 2010 and 2019, whether they’re to gain valuable experience for a young prospect, or to simply give a player a fresh start without their new club having to spend a huge amount of money.
Not all the loan moves we’ve seen have worked out, but for some, they’ve paid off hugely. Sometimes though, clubs have made such strange loan signings that it’s hard to work out exactly what they were thinking at all.
Here are 5 of the strangest loan signings in the last decade (2010-2019).
#1 Renato Sanches – Bayern Munich to Swansea City (2017-18)
Attacking midfielder Renato Sanches burst onto the scene as one of Portugal’s key players in their victorious Euro 2016 campaign, scoring a goal in their quarter-final win over Poland and being named as the Young Player of the Tournament. After just one season in Benfica’s first team, he suddenly became one of the hottest properties in Europe, and it came as no surprise when he was signed by German giants Bayern Munich.
Unfortunately for Sanches, he struggled during his first season at the Allianz Arena, having issues with learning a new language and having to compete against established stars for a spot in the team. And so despite then-Bayern boss Carlo Ancelotti stating that the Portuguese would remain in Munich for the 2017-18 season, everyone was instead taken by surprise when a loan deal to Premier League side Swansea City was announced on August 2017’s transfer deadline day.
The move was weird from the start; the Swans were expected to struggle and were hardly blessed with world-renowned players, making it questionable exactly what Sanches would be able to gain from the move. The explanation appeared to be Swansea boss Paul Clement’s links with Ancelotti, as he’d acted as an assistant manager to him on numerous occasions.
In the end, the loan was even more disastrous than even the biggest sceptic could’ve imagined. Sanches struggled for form from the beginning of the season, and hit rock bottom when he was substituted at half-time during a game against Chelsea after making a pass directly into the advertising boards.
Eventually the Portuguese midfielder picked up two hamstring injuries that sidelined him, and shortly after Clement was fired in December 2017, new Swans boss Carlos Carvalhal allowed him to return home to rehabilitate. Sanches didn’t play a single competitive game after January 2nd, and returned to Munich in the summer of 2018 after just 15 appearances and no goals for the Welsh side.
#2 Conor Thomas – Coventry City to Liverpool (2010-11)
By anyone’s standards, midfielder Conor Thomas’s loan move to Liverpool from EFL Championship side Coventry City in the January 2011 transfer window was a bizarre one. At the time, Thomas was just 17 at the time and had only just emerged from the Sky Blues’ academy after signing with them at as a youngster.
January 2011 saw him make his professional debut for Coventry in an FA Cup win over Crystal Palace, and he followed that by starting in their following FA Cup match against Birmingham City some three weeks later. Somehow, five days after that match – with just 2 professional games to his name – he found himself making a loan move to Premier League giants Liverpool.
Quite why the Reds – who had just appointed a new boss in Kenny Dalglish and also signed strikers Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll during the same window – wanted the young midfielder was a total mystery to basically everyone. Thomas clearly had raw talent, but the move appeared to have come far too early for him.
The story doing the rounds in Coventry at the time was that the club were struggling financially – and so had given Liverpool first refusal on the youngster in exchange for a loan fee.
At any rate, the move didn’t pay off, as Thomas never played for the Reds’ first team – only training with them on a handful of occasions – before returning to the Ricoh Arena at the end of the season, where he went onto make 100 appearances. He now plays for League Two side Cheltenham Town.
#3 Radamel Falcao – Monaco to Chelsea (2015-16)
On the face of it, Colombian striker Radamel Falcao’s loan move from Monaco to Chelsea in 2015 made perfect sense; at his peak, El Tigre was one of the world’s most feared strikers, plundering an insane 52 goals in 68 appearances at Atletico Madrid before his move to France. However, during his time at Monaco, Falcao had picked up a serious knee injury, and judging by the seasons that followed, his career appeared to be in ruins.
2014-15 had seen him appear just 3 times for Monaco, and a loan move to Manchester United in the same season was an absolute disaster, with the Colombian striker stinking out the joint during 29 appearances, scoring just 4 goals. That’s why it was so strange when the Blues agreed to take him on loan during the 2015-16 season – paying him an eye-watering £140,000 a week in the process.
Unsurprisingly, Falcao struggled massively at Stamford Bridge, picking up various injuries and ending up being cut out of the Blues’ Champions League squad at the turn of the year. His time at Chelsea ended with him having made just 12 appearances in all competitions, scoring just one goal – an even worse return than he’d managed at Manchester United in the previous season.
Falcao would return to Monaco at the end of the season and eventually regained his form – he’s since scored 70 goals for the French side – but quite why Chelsea chose to take such a risk on him is still confusing, particularly when it wasn’t exactly cheap for them to do so, either.
#4 Steven Caulker – QPR to Liverpool (2015-16)
Once capped by England during his time at Tottenham Hotspur, defender Steven Caulker made a strange loan move from Queens Park Rangers to Liverpool in January 2016 that got even stranger when Reds boss Jurgen Klopp decided to deploy him in a completely different position than he’d previously played in – and actually had slight success in doing so.
The 2015-16 season actually started with Caulker on loan from QPR at Southampton, which made a little more sense given their low-to-mid-table status, but he only managed 8 appearances for the Saints after joining, the last of which came during a home 1-6 defeat by Liverpool.
Somehow his performance in that game was enough to convince Klopp to bring him to Anfield – apparently he’d been impressed with his aerial prowess – and so Southampton agreed to terminate their deal with QPR in order for him to join the Reds in another loan deal until the end of the season.
Caulker ended up making three Premier League appearances for Liverpool, all from the bench, but rather than being used as a defender, Klopp sent him on as a makeshift, battering-ram striker. Strangely enough, it worked – in 2 of the 3 games in which he appeared, the Reds scored late goals, including a 95th minute winner from Adam Lallana in a game against Norwich, a strike that Caulker had a hand in setting up.
Unfortunately for the defender, we never got the opportunity to see him play in his preferred position; injuries and personal issues raised their head, and after January, he never played another minute at the club before returning to QPR at the end of the season.
#5 Denis Suarez – Barcelona to Arsenal (2018-19)
We’ve seen numerous loan deals over the years turn out to be a waste of time, as the player making the move barely kicks a ball before returning to their parent club. Perhaps the best example of that was seen in 2018-19, as Spanish midfielder Denis Suarez made a strange – and largely pointless – loan switch to Arsenal.
The Gunners’ pursuit of Suarez went on for what felt like months, with plenty of click-bait articles dedicated to his potential move, so when he finally made the move to the Emirates, fans were understandably excited. Suarez had played under boss Unai Emery before, and was expected to gradually replace the outgoing Aaron Ramsey in the team’s midfield.
Unfortunately for Arsenal fans, the Spaniard could never adjust to the English game, and a string of minor injuries didn’t help either. By the end of the season, Suarez had completed just 67 minutes across 4 Premier League appearances, and unsurprisingly failed to score a goal or make an assist.
The summer of 2019 saw him return to the Nou Camp – and shortly after, he was quickly sold to Celta Vigo. To make matters worse for Arsenal, they ended up paying £2.17 million in a loan fee for the midfielder, as well as his £55,000 per week wages – meaning this pointless loan cost them around £28,105 for every minute he actually played.
