The Loan Report returns for another season – the ninth in a row on TheChels.net – and with 22 players already out and about, there’s plenty to sink our teeth into.

Headliners

Mason Mount, as he did so often last season, made the headlines on the opening weekend of the Football League campaign by scoring on his Derby County debut. Working under Chelsea legends Frank Lampard and Jody Morris at Pride Park, the England Under-19 midfielder has quickly been entrusted with a key midfield role despite his tender years, and repaid the faith of another famous number eight with a goal his boss would have been proud of himself.

Derby won 2-1 thanks to a last-minute Tom Lawrence header, and big things are expected of the Rams and Mason over the next ten months.

England

Championship

Saturday’s big kick-off saw a host of Chelsea players make their senior debuts in professional football, led by Trevoh Chalobah at Ipswich Town and Reece James at Wigan. The standout defenders in youth team football have finally dipped their toes into senior waters, and both enjoyed productive first games in alternative blue.

Chalobah, deployed in midfield by new Ipswich manager Paul Hurst, earned generally positive reviews for an authoritative display with plenty of culture and flair, whilst James caught the eye with some robust play down the right for the Latics, and was in positive form as his new charges beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-2.

Kasey Palmer came off the bench against Chalobah and Ipswich to make his Blackburn Rovers debut, almost scoring from close range, and if he can stay fit he’ll once again prove himself eminently capable of performing at a higher level.

Lewis Baker made his Leeds debut as a late substitute in their win over Stoke on Sunday, where Jamal Blackman was also a sub for the Yorkshire club, and Todd Kane will look to make his Hull debut against Aston Villa on Monday night.

League One

Dujon Sterling’s first start for Coventry City saw him complete ninety minutes but end up on the losing side, as Scunthorpe came to the Ricoh Arena, and claimed a 2-1 win. It wasn’t Sterling’s professional debut – he made two appearances for Chelsea last season – but it was the start of what will be a very important year for him as he reunited with former academy coach Adi Viveash, now the Coventry Assistant Manager.

Charlie Colkett returned to action after a problematic and injury-hit 2017-18 with a tidy 74 minutes for Shrewsbury Town in their 1-0 defeat to visitors Bradford.

League Two

With two seasons of non-league football under his belt, Nathan Baxter made his Football League bow on Saturday, as he featured for Yeovil Town for the first time. The Glovers had been reduced to nine men, yet looked to be on their way to an unlikely point away to Bury, only for them to succumb to a last-minute winner.

Jacob Maddox’s first outing in the men’s game saw him clock up ninety minutes for Cheltenham Town in their 1-0 defeat to Crawley Town.

Netherlands

The Eredivisie doesn’t start for another week, but Vitesse have been underway for a fortnight, as they seek to qualify for the Europa League group stages again. Eduardo and Jake Clarke-Salter are the current Blues on loan at the Gelredome and both started as they beat Viitorul of Romania 3-1 on Thursday to secure a 5-3 aggregate win and a tie against Basel in the next round. Clarke-Salter assisted the opening goal for Tim Matavz before later being substituted after suffering a concussion.

France

Victorien Angban has joined Second Division side Metz for the coming season, but was not involved in their 5-1 win over Orléans on Friday, with his latest suspension from Belgian football carrying over into his spell with his latest loan club.

Italy

Mario Pašalić has joined Atalanta on loan – the Italians have a €15m option to buy the Croatian midfielder – but he didn’t play in their 8-0 Europa League Qualifying drubbing of FC Sarajevo.

Serbia

Danilo Pantic is back with Partizan Belgrade for another season, after a superb season last time out, and he’s been involved in league and European action for most of the last month. He played 74 minutes against Trakai in midweek to set up a Third Qualifying Round clash with Nordsjaelland, and then completed ninty in the league against Mladost Lucani on Sunday, a match that finished 0-0.

Scotland

Ruben Sammut was an unused substitute as Falkirk lost their league opener to recently-relegated Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The 20 year-old midfielder has already gotten minutes under his belt in the four League Cup matches played out in July.

Brazil

Nathan has returned to Brazilian football for a loan spell with Atlético-MG, and will hope to make his debut on Tuesday night at home to Internacional.

Still to come

– Kenedy and Newcastle kick off their Premier League season next weekend.

– Baba Rahman’s Schalke begin their Bundesliga campaign at Wolfsburg on August 25th.

– Joao Rodriguez and Tenerife are a fortnight away from their Liga 123 opener against Gimnastíc.

– Kyle Scott and Telstar warmed up for their Eerste Divisie trip to RKC Waalwijk on August 17th with a 13-0 pre-season win in which the young midfielder scored twice.

Statistics

Started: July 14th

Final: May 29th







