It’s nearly a month since the transfer window closed and the impact of FIFA’s decision to scrap the emergency loan window from the start of this season is just beginning to hit home.
Clubs from the Championship down are assessing their injuries and players on the fringe of the starting eleven with the bigger clubs are getting restless.
In the past, players from wealthier clubs with large squads have been able to move on temporary contracts to clubs outside the Premier League during specified periods between the summer and winter transfer windows.
This is no longer allowed by FIFA who have deemed the practice damaging to the ‘sporting integrity of competitions.’
Most of the commentary so far has been from managers lamenting the change.
Plenty have had their say on the wisdom or otherwise of FIFA’s decision such as England manager Sam Allardyce who predicted the change would “put extra pressure on the managers not to take young players in case they don’t work out.”
Former Millwall manager Ian Holloway used an interesting washing machine analogy as he likened the effect of the ruling on his club compared to wealthier clubs saying “If my washine machine breaks …. Newcastle will have two or three so they’ll be more efficient and I’ll be walking around in dirty clothes looking like a tramp.”
But there is another equally valid perspective.
It’s well understood that young players at wealthy clubs who are not consistent starters need to be playing competitive football to develop their talent but as foreign investment and the ever-increasing TV money makes the game richer at the top end, more and more fine young footballers are finding themselves not only on the bench but often in the stands.
As the bigger clubs seem to seek ready-made answers from abroad, many of these sidelined players are English.
“Harry Kane wouldn’t be the England striker without him going to Millwall, Leicester and Norwich. Without having those experiences going out, they don’t get to be the players they are today.” This was Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy’s response to FIFA’s announcement earlier this year.
Kane is perhaps the most high profile but by no means the only youngster to have been allowed to fulfill his potential by benefitting from a run of competitive games through short term loans.
Who knows how he and others would have developed without this opportunity and what both scores of young players and the watching public will miss out on if a resolution to this regrettable situation cannot be found.