It has been a challenging week for Manchester United’s array of young loanees and the loan experience in general has not been easy for many.
Will Fish at Hibernian and Radek Vitek are the two exceptions of United academy products that have grabbed their chance, or even been given one to show off their talents after their loan move.
Hannibal Mejbri started the season with increased minutes and scored a thunderous strike against Brighton in September. However that has certainly been the highlight of his club career to date.
The Tunisian barely featured for United after October and was sent out on loan to Sevilla. Speaking on the move, the 21 year old was clearly excited about the opportunity, praising the Spanish side’s project.
However, after falling out with teammates and not impressing the coach in training, Hannibal has rarely got off the bench for the Andalusian side, playing a total of 37 minutes over three La Liga games.
This has led to it being reported that Sevilla have no interest in activating the buy option they have or United in keeping him beyond the summer.
Moreover, it seems unlikely that United will get good money for him anywhere, or be persuaded to make him an integral member of their own first team squad, after six months of bench warming at such a critical stage in his career.
Another season that started with early promise but has fizzled out of late has been that of Alvaro Carreras.
The Spaniard started really well on loan at Granada getting numerous minutes but once the autumn got into full swing, he fell down the pecking order and was swiftly moved onto Benfica in Portugal.
The Galician left back has once again struggled for minutes and whilst not playing too badly when given a chance, he has been limited to 201 minutes of action, largely off the bench.
The defender was once again an unused sub in Benfica’s last game at the weekend against Portimonense.
Joe Hugill is another case of a young United loanee going out to experience professional football, but barely getting a kick.
The 2022 Youth Cup winner’s start could hardly have gone better when he scored on debut for Burton off the bench and racked up an assist in his next game.
Lately however, the striker’s appearances have been limited to half an hour off the bench, where he has hardly been able to influence the game at all.
The Youth Cup winning captain, Rhys Bennett, has also only managed one game for Stockport and that was a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Tranmere.
An even more extreme case is the highly rated academy product, Dan Gore has only played one game for League One strugglers Port Vale. The midfielder was hooked off after 54 minutes in a 0-1 home loss to Portsmouth and has been missing in action since.
Finally, defensive midfielder, Maxi Oyedele, is another Carrington product that has been limited to brief cameos off the bench, making little to no impact in League Two for Forest Green.
Obviously, not everyone can have the success Amad Diallo had at Sunderland last season, where he won the PFA Fans Championship player of the year, where he scored 14 goals and provided four assists for the North-East side.
However, it is very worrying that very few of these highly-rated academy products can make any sort of impact at third and fourth division level.
Of course entering a new team is tough in January and especially in teams like Port Vale and Burton who are fighting for their lives in their respective divisions but it begs the questions, what is wrong with the club’s broken loan system.
The club rightly prides itself on its wonderful youth record, but that will only suffer if they cannot find a way to make loans more productive for the player and the club. Very few youngsters like Alejandro Garnacho or Kobbie Mainoo are good or lucky enough to break through right into the first team.
Of course some blame must lie with the players but arguably more must reside with the club, when time and time again players are sent on loan with little return for any of the interested parties.
Perhaps the club needs to rethink its approach and also reassess where they are sending their loan players to.
Stockport are fighting for promotion, so in the crucial spring months, may not want to rely on a 20 year old. As previously mentioned, Port Vale and Burton are fighting for their lives in the lower regions of their divisions. Forest Green also sit 23rd in League Two, so once again, they may not trust a 19 year old to hold their midfield together.
It might be prudent if the club chose teams who are more stable or have less at stake, who might be more prepared to blood youngsters and help foster their talent.
Sometimes, to the untrained eye, it feels the club just accepts anyone who will take them.
This is yet another issue that new part owners INEOS will have to try and rectify over the course of the next few years.
