Premier league loanies – Round up

As you are certainly aware Championship is the best and most watched second division in the World, with the best media and sponsorship coverage out of all the second divisions in Europe, and it is good place to show all your qualities at the big stage, especially if you are the youngster of one of the Premier League clubs, who is looking to stand up to the expectations and gain experience for the top level football. Then your club loan you to some club from the Championship, and here is your chance, do your best in the Plymouths, Burnleys or Blackpools, and your Manchester United, Arsenal or Chelsea will take you back under their wing and give you the chance to shine at the big stage.

This season Championship boasts few of these players, and we will try to divert your attention to them.

Tom Heaton

Tom Heaton is young Manchester United keeper, who is on loan at Cardiff City. With his 22 years of age, he has the experience of keeping the Man Utd goal, and he was the member of England U21 squad. He was part of the Red Devils first tem last season, and he was on the substitutes bench when Van der Saar was injured and Kuszczak was in the team. The most important thing is that Cardiff manager Dave Jones believes in him, and Heaton is starter, while experienced Peter Enckelman is on the bench. Heaton repaid him for the trust with good performances and just seven conceded goals in eight rounds in the balanced Welsh team.

Barazite

Nacer Barazite is young Holland player of Moroccan background, and he is currently Arsenal’s youngster on loan at Derby County. He is attacking midfielder, and even though he is just 18, Barazite fitted right in the Paul Jewel’s team. He was in the Arsenal’s first team, playing in the Carling Cup, where he sustained a difficult shoulder injury. After the recovery, he was on the substitutes bench a couple of times near the end of the season. He started his spell with the Rams on the bench, but he played a big part in Derby’s first win after a year, against Sheffield, when he was brought on, and he was pronounced man of the match. He is irreplaceable in midfield ever since.

Ryan Bertrand

Ryan Bertrand is 19 year-old full-back, and he can play on the wing too. He is Chelsea player on loan at Norwich. He spent first part of the last season in Oldham, but he was impressive in the second part of the season for Canaries. He was regular in the U 19 national team, and Stuart Pearce called him into his U21 squad this September. He will certainly stay in Norfolk until January, with the option of extending the loan until the end of the season, even though manager Glenn Roeder doesn’t hide his ambition to make him a permanent addition.

Lee Martin

Lee Martin is Manchester United winger, who is learning his trade in the Championship clubs in the last couple of years. Even though he plays well in pre season for Manchester United and even scores goals, Alex Ferguson somehow in the nick of time decides to loan him. He played great for Plymouth last season, and not so good for Sheffield United (due to his knee injury), and he is playing for Nottingham Forest at the moment, at least until January. As soon as he joined the Forests, he was in the first team after just 24 hours, and he scored against Watford in a 3:2 win. After that he couldn’t stand out in the team that is last in the Championship.

Paul Gallagher

Paul Gallagher is not so young (he is 24), but he has shown the most potential out of all the loanies in the Championship. He has already scored three goals in four league games for Plymouth Argyle, as Blackburn Rovers player, where he couldn’t get the chance to show his potential. Gallagher is one of the key players for Plymouth’s good run (three straight wins, two of those were away wins), which helped Paul Sturrock’s team move away from the relegation zone and reached top part of the table. The Scott was loaned to Stoke and Preston in recent years, and he always did a good job playing as wing forward (12 goals for Stoke in 2005/2006 season) and he has picked up several caps for his national team.

We shouldn’t forget Tomas Pekhart, young Czech, who is playing great for Southampton, on loan from Tottenham, and exquisite striker (Manchester United’s kid) Febian Brendy, who cannot find his way to Swansea’s starting eleven, where he spend second part of last season. Another jewel of Island football is Liverpool winger Paul Anderson, who still didn’t play a single game for Nottingham Forest because of injury, and even Rafa Benitez expects a lot from this player when he recovers. Tony McMahon, Middlesbrough defender, is irreplaceable in Sheffield Wednesday, where he is on loan until January.

After a lot of new players arrived in Sunderland, Ross Walace and Greg Halford were deemed surplus for the requirements, and they were loaned to Preston and Sheffield United respectively, where they play very well, especially Halford. From the more experienced players, that couldn’t find their place in the Premier League Clubs, we have Lee Cook (Fulham), who is back to his first club QPR, where he is putting some very good performances, and Antoine Sibierski (Wigan), who is the part of the starting eleven in Norwich.

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