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2019/20 has been a tremendous season thus far when it comes to young players making breakthroughs in the Premier League. From the likes of Fikayo Tomori and Mason Mount at Chelsea to Harvey Barnes at Leicester, Mason Greenwood at Manchester United and Bukayo Saka at Arsenal, it feels like young talent is emerging every week.
That hasn’t been the case for some young stars, though. Where some have been given the opportunity to thrive, others have been largely starved of game time, whether that’s been down to the form of players ahead of them or issues with their own form earlier in the season.
With January’s transfer window fast approaching, one way for some of these players to solve their issue of lack of match time would be to look for a loan move, likely to a club lower on football’s ladder than their parent side.
Here are 5 young stars who could use a loan move in January.
#1 Angel Gomes
Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has always stated that one of his primary aims while in charge at Old Trafford is to bring through the next generation of academy talents, but right now the jury is out on whether he’s achieving that goal. Sure, the likes of Mason Greenwood and Brandon Williams have been given plenty of minutes, but that hasn’t been the case for some of United’s other young talent.
Most notable by his absence? Creative midfielder Angel Gomes. Gomes – who won the U-17 World Cup with England alongside the likes of Phil Foden and Callum Hudson-Odoi in 2017 – actually became the first player born in the 2000s to appear in the Premier League when he made his first-team debut back in 2017, but since then he’s been largely starved of game time and has only made 3 appearances this season.
It’s difficult to understand why, too. The Red Devils have struggled with creativity for great swathes of 2019/20, and Gomes is the kind of player who has the ability to create something from nothing thanks to his dribbling skills, ability to find space in tight areas, and passing range.
The issue likely comes down to worries about his physicality; Gomes is just 5’3” and has a slight build, but plenty of smaller players have made it to the top before, just ask Lionel Messi.
It seems that Gomes is ripe for a January loan, where he should be able to pick up some valuable senior playing time while demonstrating his skills and also showing that his lack of stature doesn’t matter.
A move abroad could work, but it might be wiser for him to look to an EFL Championship side – England’s second tier is notoriously physical and if Gomes could succeed there, any doubts about his strength would largely be quietened.
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#2 Reiss Nelson
One of the crown jewels to be produced by Arsenal’s academy over the past few years, wide forward Reiss Nelson has already had one successful loan move; he spent the entirety of 2018/19 in the Bundesliga with Hoffenheim. And while he didn’t start many games, he certainly had an impact, scoring 7 goals in his 23 appearances and even had a bizarre music video dedicated to him (and fellow English youngster Jadon Sancho) on the official Bundesliga YouTube channel.
When he wasn’t sent on another loan this summer it seemed like 2019/20 could be the year for Nelson to make a breakthrough at the Emirates, but thus far that hasn’t been the case. The England U-21 star did begin the season in the Gunners’ starting line-up, but after a couple of frustrating performances – he saw his first Arsenal goal disallowed by VAR during an August match with Burnley – he’s slipped down the pecking order.
Not only has Unai Emery preferred to use his bigger name players like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe as Arsenal’s first choice wide forwards, but he’s also seemingly moved the even younger Bukayo Saka ahead of Nelson in the queue. And while Saka has performed excellently at times, it’s hard to grasp why.
Nelson is a brilliant instinctive finisher, and while his dribbling could do with some work – statistics suggest he’s unsuccessful in his dribbles more than he’s successful – the raw talent is definitely there, as he showed in a Man of the Match-level performance in the EFL Cup against Nottingham Forest in what was a rare start for him.
At 19 it’s imperative that Nelson gains more first-team experience, and most importantly more minutes; Hoffenheim was good for his development but now he needs to be starting week-in, week-out. With that in mind, a January loan move to a lower-level Premier League side could work wonders for him.
#3 Kyle Walker-Peters
It’s hard to pinpoint what’s gone wrong for young Tottenham right-back Kyle Walker-Peters this season outside of him suffering a badly-timed injury. The summer of 2019 saw Spurs sell first-choice right-back Kieran Trippier to Atletico Madrid, and when they didn’t sign a replacement, it felt like Walker-Peters – a U-20 World Cup winner in 2017 with England – would finally be given a run in the first team.
That’s exactly what happened, as Walker-Peters started the season in Mauricio Pochettino’s first XI, performing admirably in Spurs’ first two Premier League matches against Aston Villa and Manchester City. He suffered a hamstring injury in his third match, though – the 0-1 defeat to Newcastle in August – and since then he’s been seen just once, in the diabolical 0-0 draw with Colchester in the EFL Cup.
Quite why this is, only Pochettino knows. Since then, the massively inconsistent Serge Aurier has been used as Tottenham’s first choice in the position, while others such as Davinson Sanchez and Juan Foyth have also been given a shot as potential replacements for Trippier.
Walker-Peters meanwhile has been left in the cold – despite running up better statistics in tackles, clearances, blocks and passing success than Aurier in his brief appearances at the beginning of the season.
It appears that Pochettino simply doesn’t have faith in the youngster – which is why a loan move in January would make sense for all parties. It’d be a chance for Walker-Peters to prove his worth with a longer run in a starting XI, and it’d be a risk-free opportunity for Pochettino and Spurs to see whether they might already have the solution to a problem position on their books.
Given his experience, a move down to the EFL Championship might not make sense, so for Walker-Peters perhaps a loan move abroad, if it becomes available, could work better.
#4 Rhian Brewster
Despite Jurgen Klopp apparently rating him highly, it was always going to be difficult for England U-21 striker Rhian Brewster to find game time at Liverpool in 2019/20. After all, Liverpool have one of the most potent attacking trios in the football world right now in the form of Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane – and if any of the three are unavailable, Divock Origi seems to be a perfectly able deputy.
Brewster is just 19 years old so usually a lack of minutes due to the form of his more illustrious teammates wouldn’t be such a huge deal, but the problem is that when the striker has been deployed – he’s started in both of Liverpool’s EFL Cup matches thus far – he’s looked largely rusty and off the pace, and hasn’t been able to find the net despite the Reds scoring 7 goals across both games.
What’s the reason for this, when fellow youngsters Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott have looked so impressive? Most likely it comes back to the fact that Brewster missed practically a year of football – from the start of 2018 through to the first half of 2019 – with a serious ankle and knee injury. If he’s looked rusty this season, it’s probably because he is rusty.
That means that while the striker’s future is probably still going to be bright at Anfield, he desperately needs game time to get back up to pace and regain the confidence that he displayed when he scored 8 goals to win the Golden Boot in the 2017 U-17 World Cup.
Due to his lack of experience at senior level, it seems like a move to an EFL Championship side would probably serve him best; he’d be able to develop the more physical side to his game against tough opponents while hopefully getting some valuable minutes under his belt. Any side in that league would be lucky to have a striker with such potential – if only for five months.
#5 Morgan Gibbs-White
2019-20 has been a frustrating season for Wolves youngster Morgan Gibbs-White up to this point. The attacker, who won the U-17 World Cup with England in 2017, broke through into the first team at Molineux last season and famously starred in Wolves’ 2-1 win over Chelsea in December, setting up the opening goal of that game for Raul Jimenez.
Gibbs-White went on to make 31 appearances in total in 2018/19, and while the majority of them came from the substitute’s bench, he also made a handful of starts and it was clear that boss Nuno Espirito Santo appeared to rate him highly. This season, however, Gibbs-White appears to have taken somewhat of a step backwards.
Despite Wolves having a more packed fixture list thanks to their UEFA Europa League exploits, Gibbs-White has played just 120 minutes in the Premier League thus far. In comparison, fellow youngster Mason Mount has racked up 1041 minutes for Chelsea, while Bukayo Saka has completed 345 minutes for Arsenal.
It doesn’t seem right at all, especially when you consider that Wolves have one of the smaller squads in the Premier League. But then their forward line of Jimenez, Diogo Jota and Adama Traore is a strong one, and Joao Moutinho seems to have the playmaker spot sewn up – meaning Gibbs-White is usually considered the odd man out.
At 19 he has plenty of time on his side, but if Wolves aren’t going to use him regularly then perhaps a January loan to a side who would consider him a regular starter would work well. Given that he’s already demonstrated his talents at the Premier League level, a move to a lower side in the league could work – but Wolves may not wish to strengthen a rival, so perhaps a move abroad could be better for the England youngster.
