One of the toughest tasks in football is developing youthful potential into first team regulars.
With first team squads around the 20 plus mark it’s very rare anywhere in the game for a club to pluck a player from the youths/reserve/development team and pitch them straight into top team action.
In England the loan market is used extensively with everyone in the England u-21 squad for next month’s European Championships having been sent out on loan.
At the age of 21 Harry Kane has just completed a remarkable season at Spurs- on his cv he can look back at spells out on loan at Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester.
Some of those loans weren’t particularly successful in terms of goals or playing time but with 21 Premier League goals as well as a goal on his full England debut there can be no doubt that all those experiences have been beneficial for both player and club.
Celtic and Manchester City seem to have a sound relationship with the style of Ronny Deila appreciated by the English side.
City have had 20 players out on loan this season with their official website keeping a close eye on the progress of those players.
The case of Jason Denayer seems to be the perfect loan deal with both clubs, the player and his international manager all benefiting from the past season.
According to the City website: “A stable of 20 loanees have scattered across Europe and North America aiming to make their mark on the beautiful game and stake a claim for the City first team.
“One player who has had a remarkable season is Jason Denayer, and he and City teammate John Guidetti finally got their hands on the Scottish Premiership trophy this weekend.
“Their status as title winners was confirmed some weeks ago, but the ceremonies were completed at Celtic Park at the weekend after the season’s final outing against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
“Denayer completed the full complement of minutes in the 5-0 rout against Caley for this 44th appearance of the term. Voted Celtic’s Young Player of the Year and collecting plaudits aplenty, the Belgian defender also added six goals – not too shabby for a centre-back.
“Unsurprisingly, his campaign has been rewarded with another call-up to Belgium’s senior squad for the European Championship Qualifier with Wales on 12 June.
The growing profile of the Major Soccer League has been noted by City who have taken full advantage of their tie up with New York City to give Shay Facey match time in a new environment.
Looking to extend Facey’s loan deal NYC boss Jason Kreis said: “We haven’t had any conversations in and around that yet. I think we will very soon.
“From our point of view we would like to see him stay. He’s a quality player who adds a little bit of a different element to our group. We appreciate everything he’s done.”
Facey added: “Training in a first team environment is a massive step coming from reserve football.
“A league as competitive as MLS is really pushing me and hopefully at some point I’ll move to central [defence] because that’s my preferred playing position, but for now no matter where I play the experience I’m gaining is massive.”
Celtic currently have Liam Henderson on loan at Rosenborg while Dylan McGeouch, Jackson Irvine, Teemu Pukki, Holmbert Fridjonsson, Luke Donnelly, Paul McMullan, Stewart Findlay, John Herron, Jordan Hart and Aiden McIllduff have all been out on loan this season.