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The European scene is the biggest stage of club football, and as such, every young boy from all parts of the globe with aspirations of becoming a professional footballer dreams of lacing up his boots and playing for the biggest clubs in the world. It is in Europe where dreams come to life.
However, only a few of these young kids go on to achieve their dreams of becoming professional footballers, while the rest of us (yours faithfully included) go on to spend the rest of their lives analyzing and writing about the game they love so much, while others still devote their time to supporting their favorite teams with a feverish passion either from the comfort of the cushions in their homes or from the rafters in the stands.
Even among those who make it as professionals, only a select few go on to achieve elite status and cement their legacy in the annals of football, as they show a lack of wherewithal needed to survive the harsh realities of being a top level footballer.
Talent at the biggest clubs is usually at a premium level, and as such, not too many players are able to cut it while at such clubs, with most clearing the way for more talented players by either being sold outrightly or being shipped out on loan.
More often than not, the players who are sent out are usually young players of tremendous value who are struggling to nail down a regular spot due to the presence of more established players in the pecking order, and as such the best decision is usually to loan out such players to get the requisite playing time to adapt to the rigors of playing top level football.
While on loan, some of these players go on to achieve superstardom, highlighting the folly of the decision to let them go, and it is on this matter that the subject of this piece focuses.
In this slideshow, we present five players currently on loan who have thrived this season at the club where they were shipped to.
Honorable mentions – Martin Odegaard (AS Vitesse – on loan from Real Madrid), Mason Mount (Derby County – on loan from Chelsea ), Harry Wilson (Derby County – On Loan From Liverpool), Matteo Kovacic (Chelsea – on loan from Real Madrid), Ola Aina (Torino – on loan from Chelsea)
#5 Danny Ings (Southampton – on loan from Liverpool)
The 26-year-old striker was named Championship Player of the season in 2014 after his impressive performances in England’s second tier helped bring the Clarets to second place and promotion to the Premier League.
Following Burnley’s relegation and the expiration of Ings’ contract at the end of the 2014/2015 EPL season, he was transferred to Liverpool to help the bolster the team’s attack under Brendan Rodgers.
Things however deteriorated for The Reds under Rodgers, leading to his sack and replacement by Jurgen Klopp, but Ings was dealt a major blow to his Liverpool career, as he suffered a tear to his ACL in his left knee, which ruled him out for the rest of the season (although he made a substitute appearance in the last game of the campaign).
Ings has always been an injury plagued player, and once again in October 2016 he suffered another knee injury, this time on his right knee in a League Cup match against Tottenham, which ruled him out of the season (He made just two League Cup appearances throughout the 2016/2017 season).
He returned in September 2017 (his first appearance in 11 months), and had to wait until April 2018 to get his first goal for Liverpool in almost three years (and first under Jurgen Klopp).
The performances of Liverpool’s vaunted attacking trio, coupled with the quality options of Sturridge and Shaqiri off the bench, meant that Ings getting playing time this season was always going to be a tall order.
It therefore came as no surprise when he was loaned out to Southampton at the start of the season, with The Saints obligated to buy him at the end of the campaign.
He has started life at the St Mary’s rather impressively, scoring on his first start for the club in the 2-1 defeat to Everton, while also netting the opener in a 2-0 over Crystal Palace to help Southhampton register their first win of the Premier League campaign.
He has so far scored 4 goals in 10 appearances for Southampton, although unlike other clubs on the list, Liverpool’s performances in his absence means that they don’t miss him too much, and his loan move was probably in his best interest.
#4 Gonzalo Higuain
30-year-old ‘Pipito’ has made a name for himself as a goalscorer of the highest proportion through his time at Real Madrid, Napoli and Juventus, and in 2016 he equaled a long standing record (86 years) for most goals in a Serie A campaign as his 36 strikes helped Napoli to a second placed finish in the scudetto race, and it goes without saying that it also won him the Capocannoneire (Serie A top scorer) award.
Gonzalo Higuain has maintained an average of over a goal every other game at all four clubs he has played for in Europe, right from his time at Real Madrid, and it is on the back of his record breaking season at the San Paolo that Juventus shelled out a then Italian record fee of €90m to sign him.
However, the arrival of the man who broke his Italian Serie A transfer record, former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, meant there was always going to be space for only one of them, as Juventus had to clear out some of their wage bill to foot Ronaldo’s gargantuan transfer, and it was inevitably Higuain who took the fall, undertaking a loan transfer to AC Milan.
At San Siro, Higuain has settled well into life, despite struggling initially – he has bounced back well in recent weeks, scoring eight goals in 15 appearances in all competitions, including notable winners against F91 Dudelange in the Europa League, as well as netting a brace in the 3-1 Serie A victory over Chievo.
He is currently serving a two-match ban after Milan’s appeal was rejected following his red card for his pitch meltdown against former employers Juventus in the league before the international break.
#3 Achraf Hakimi
Hakimi has been one of the most promising young players in the Real Madrid academy over the last few years. He was promoted to the first team at the start of the 2017/2018 season, serving as mainly a backup for the more established Dani Carvajal.
He ended his sole season (so far) with the main squad of Real Madrid with a respectable total of two goals in 17 appearances, and is credited as the first ever Moroccan to win the Champions League.
His performances for Los Blancos were solid enough for him to win a place on the plane for Herve Renard’s squad to Russia, and he started all three matches as Morocco gave a good account of themselves despite their group stage exit.
In July 2018, Borussia Dortmund signed the 19-year-old Hakimi on a two year loan, and under Lucien Favre’s guidance, he has grown in leaps and bounds along with other young players at the Westfalenstadion.
He has scored two goals in nine appearances in all competitions for Dortmund, and gave the most complete performance so far of his rising career when he registered a hat-trick of assists to help Dortmund sink Atletico Madrid to a 4-0 defeat in the Champions League.
Dortmund have been so impressed with Hakimi’s performances that there are already plans to make his deal permanent, and with the injury crisis currently rocking the Madrid defense, it is not hard to imagine that they would have been much better with the Moroccan international within their ranks.
#2 Andre Silva
After impressing for the Porto youth sides, Silva was promoted to the main team in 2015, and performed significantly well at the Dragao to warrant a move to AC Milan in 2017 for a fee of €40m.
A full Portuguese international since 2016, Silva has been incredible for the Portuguese national team (scoring 15 goals in 31 appearances), and was named by none other but the great Cristiano Ronaldo as his heir in the national team.
However, things did not go to plan for Andre Silva at the San Siro, and he had to wait until March 2018 for his first Serie A goal. He ended his sole season for Milan with 10 goals in 40 appearances in all competitions, and this was seen as not significant enough to make him the man to lead the club to the new heights expected.
His low goalscoring returns, coupled with the arrival of Gonzalo Higuain, meant that there was only one way to go for the 23-year-old – out the door.
The Sanchez Pizjuan was to be his next home, as Sevilla brought him in on loan for one season with the option to make the move permanent, and it is a transfer which has been hugely beneficial to all parties.
Silva has settled to life well in La Liga, and scored a hat-trick in his debut La Liga game for Sevilla, as well as adding a brace in the 3-0 rout of Real Madrid at home.
He currently has eight goals from just 11 La Liga appearances and is fifth on the top scorers chart for the Pichichi award.
#1 Paco Alcacer
Paco Alcacer failed to nail down a regular starting berth at Barcelona for two seasons following his 2016 transfer from Valencia, and this was understandable due to the sheer amount of talent ahead of him in the Barca attack.
Alcacer, however, is to talented to be rotting away on the bench, and on his day is a very decent striker (as his performances at Valencia showed). It was therefore only a matter of time before another club brought his Barcelona nightmare to an end.
That club turned out to be Borrussia Dortmund, and Paco Alcacer has taken to the Signal Iduna Park like a house on fire.
Dortmund brought Alcacaer in on a season long loan, with an option to buy for €30m, but even the most optimistic of BVB fans wouldn’t have foreseen the 26-year-old having the kind of immediate impact he has had.
He scored six goals in his first three Bundesliga matches, despite coming off the bench in each of all three matches, and scored a hat-trick in the 4-3 win over Augsburg, winning the match with the last kick of the game.
Alcacer also put in a noteworthy performance in the 3-2 Die Klasiker win over Bayern Munich, scoring a goal, and was on target over the weekend as Borussia Dortmund ground out a hard fought 2-1 win against Mainz to take them 9 points clear of Bayern atop the Bundesliga standings.
Alcacer went on an incredible run through October in which he scored with all ten of his shots on target for club and country, and currently sits joint-top of the Bundesliga scorers charts with nine goals at an astonishing ratio of a goal every 22 minutes.
The Dortmund board have been so impressed with Alcacer, that they have already made his move a permanent one barely five months into the transfer, and this is a far cry from the player who was kicking his heels on the Barcelona bench less than a year ago.
