Lennon, Stoke, the future

The story of Stoke City this transfer window and the words of manager Mark Hughes reveal the way the game is going nowadays.

Lennon, Stoke, the future


Aaron Lennon has fancifully been linked with Stoke City but for Lennon it would be a step down and he is unlikely to want to take that step. We constantly hear, and hear from Stoke, that clubs want to take players on loan. Doing so means there is no commitment, they don't have to sell anyone they can just hand the player back and leave all the problems to the club ho own the player.

It's fine for a club taking a player on loan, as soon as they return them they no longer have the wages to pay and their is a free space in their squad, so in fact they are saving money. For the club sending the player out on loan it's a different story. At the end of the loan period they get the player back, have to pay his wages, indeed they may have been subsiding them t send him on loan in the first place.

It also means they now have an extra player as they will have brought someone in for the player on loan so they will have too many players in the squad, meaning clubs know they have to sell so offer bottom prices to buy. There are so few benefits it's not worth a club like Spurs loaning out the likes of Lennon, Soldado or Paulinho for instance. Unsurprisingly Daniel Levy insists on sales not loans.

Mark Hughes has told the Stoke Sentinel that his club are looking at loan deals this window unless the right player becomes available, obviously at the right price for Stoke.

“Names have been discussed and we will see where that gets us. I cannot say we are close to anything at the moment, but we are all eyes and ears, and the end of January is a long way off. 
“We are not just looking at players to do us a job between now and the end of the season. If the right player becomes available for longer term then we will obviously look at that too.”

There is nothing wrong with the loan approach, just that it doesn't suit Tottenham and the fact that you can't buy a player and immediately loan him out to a Premier League club anymore, a good step in my view, has made life a little more difficult for some clubs.

Recent Articles
Sebastian Giovinco baffles
Kaboul to Everton
Besiktas can't agree a Kaboul price
Slow process this overhauling Spurs lark
A summer deal for rising star Felipe Anderson?
Premier League to show every game LIVE
Did Spurs watch 22yo Dutch winger Ola John?
Adebayor's no to Parma offers Spurs some hope

A way needs to be found to stop clubs stockpiling players and prevent the situation going on at Chelsea with Thibaut Courtois, where they bought him and sent him on loan for three years having never played for the club. It's an abuse of what the system is intended for and an argument for banning consecutive loan periods without time spent at the parent club.