Loan moves perfect for young players development

This week two of the most promising players from Manchester United and Manchester City have joined smaller clubs on loan to gain first team experience.

Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck has joined United’s North West rivals Preston North End. Darren Ferguson called in a favour from his dad and signed the promising youngster until the end of the season.

Manchester City’s young midfielder Vladimir Weiss has joined Bolton on loan also until the end of the season. The 20 year-old is already a regular in the Slovakian international side and is expected to star for his nation at June’s World Cup.

First Team Football

Both players have found first team opportunities hard to come by, due to the quality of player they need to get past to get into the first team. Welbeck has the likes of Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen ahead of him in the pecking order and his appearances for United have been limited to mostly cup games.

The move will be ideal for the youngster. The Championship is a good place for a young player to learn the game. It will give him a good perspective on how lucky he is to be Premier League players and the league will also toughen the youngster up.

Premier Chance

Weiss is a talented midfielder with lots of potential and in past seasons probably would have been in the City first team by now. However this is not normal times at Eastlands and Weiss simple hasn’t got much of a chance to break into the first team due to City’s major investment on players in recent years.

Weiss, unlike Welbeck, has the chance to prove himself in the top flight. The 20 year-old is a player capable of getting fans off their seats and its a no lose situation for Wanderers boss Owen Coyle. If the winger becomes a success he could help keep the club in the Premier League and if he struggles he will leave at the end of the season.

City don’t want to part with the Slovakian permanently as they believe he could be a Premier League star of the future. They will however benefit from the experience he gains at the Reebok Stadium and surely he will be a better player for his time with Bolton.

Past Successes

Some very big stars have gained vital footballing experiences from going out on loan at the start of their careers. David Beckham went on loan to Preston before he broke through into the United team on a regular basis. The season after that loan spell he broke into the first team.

Chelsea and England captain John Terry spent a spell on loan at Nottingham Forest earlier in his career. The story goes that Chelsea wasn’t sure he was good enough for the first team. They even agreed to sell the defender to Huddersfield but he decided he wanted to stay at the Stamford Bridge and fight for his Chelsea future. And what a decision that proved to be.

Fellow Chelsea star Frank Lampard also went on loan to Swansea City at the start of his career and England striker Jermain Defoe had a very productive loan spell at Bournemouth. England’s first choice left-back Ashley Cole also enjoyed a brief loan spell at Crystal Palace.

Without these loan spells these players may not have gone on to be the players they are today. The experiences of going away from big clubs improved them as they actually got to play first team football, rather than just reserve team football.

Without the loan moves the likes of Terry, Lampard, Defoe and Cole could have left their parent clubs, very unlikely as it might seem and dropped down the leagues or even out of the game. It may seem like its Bolton and Preston will get the best of these deals but the parent clubs and the players also gain so much from the experiences and hopefully Welbeck and Weiss will return to their respective clubs as stronger players.