The new Chelsea Loan Army season is barely two full weeks old, but already we’ve had plenty of action to reflect on, and a healthy goalscoring start to the campaign.

Headliners

Three more goals came long over the past seven days, beginning with Mario Pašalić’s strike on debut for Atalanta. A substitute in their Europa League qualifier away to Hapoel Haifa, he entered the fray after an hour, and took just five minutes to find the back of the net to help his new team to a 4-1 win.

Pašalić will cost Atalanta €1m for the season, and they have a €15m option to buy him permanently.

Sunday brought with it two more goals, one for a current Vitesse player, and another for a former one. Jake Clarke-Salter provided the fourth of five goals scored by Leonid Slutskiy’s side in their Eredivisie opener against Groningen; the 5-1 hammering was the perfect way to bounce back from a 1-0 stoppage-time defeat to Basel in the Europa League in midweek. Clarke-Salter and Eduardo played throughout on both occasions.

Danilo Pantic, meanwhile, played ninety minutes as Partizan won in the same competition at Nordsjaelland, and then scored his second goal of this nascent season to secure all three points in a 1-0 win at Zemun in the league on Sunday.

https://twitter.com/FKPartizan_EN/status/1028694348878237697

England

Premier League

The Premier League season started with two Chelsea players on loan at fellow top-flight clubs and, although Kurt Zouma’s arrival at Everton came too late for involvement this weekend, Kenedy started for Newcastle at home to Tottenham to a largely positive impact. A poor touch denied him a clear chance of goal, but he was an effective dribbler and hard worker despite the 2-1 defeat, and he looks like being one of their key players this season.

Championship

The big game in the Championship this week saw Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori start for Derby against a Leeds team that had Lewis Baker and Jamal Blackman amongst their substitutes. Leeds ran out 4-1 winners, with Baker getting a handful of minutes at the end, inflicting a first defeat on Frank Lampard as manager. Mount and Tomori’s performances were mostly well-received by Derby supporters, with debutant Tomori particularly impressive at centre-back despite the final score.

Reece James played all of Wigan’s 3-2 defeat at Aston Villa in a fairly challenging outing for what was just his second ever match of professional football, whilst Trevoh Chalobah was sharp and impressive despite Ipswich’s 1-0 defeat to Rotherham United.

Kasey Palmer’s first start in Blackburn Rovers colours saw him produce lively moments without reward in a goalless draw against Millwall, and Todd Kane again started in an unfamiliar left-wing role as Hull drew 1-1 at Sheffield Wednesday.

Jay Dasilva signed for Bristol City on Friday, too late for involvement this weekend.

League One

Dujon Sterling was able to showcase the more defensive side of his game in Coventry’s goalless draw at Wimbledon, including an important goalline clearance, and Charlie Colkett was an unused substitute as Shrewsbury Town lost 2-1 at Charlton.

League Two

Nathan Baxter’s home debut for Yeovil Town ended with a 2-2 draw against promotion hopefuls Mansfield Town, and Jacob Maddox saw another ninety minutes when Cheltenham lost 1-0 at Tranmere.

Scotland

Ruben Sammut played the first half of Falkirk’s 2-1 defeat to Partick Thistle, being substituted at half time with the team 2-0 down and in need of more attacking options.

France

Victorien Angban missed a second consecutive Metz match through a leftover suspension from his stay in Belgium last season.

Matt Miazga was an unused substitute in Nantes’ 3-1 defeat to Monaco, having not quite had enough training time with the squad in order to start this weekend.

Brazil

Nathan made his debut for Atlético-MG against Independiente on Tuesday, getting 17 minutes from the bench, before starting and playing an hour of their 3-1 win at home to Santos on Sunday.

In Other News

Michy Batshuayi has joined Valencia for the season, with some reports claiming that the Spanish side have a €50m option to buy him.

Josimar Quintero is also off to Spain, joining third-tier side Lleida on a season-long deal.

Ola Aina is on the verge of a switch to Torino, who would have an €8m option to turn his loan move into a permanent one.

Kenneth Omeruo has attracted interest from both Spanish and Turkish clubs, with a decision yet to be made on his future.

Tiemoue Bakayoko is closing on a year-long loan to Milan, just a season after a big-money move to Stamford Bridge from Monaco.

Statistics

Started: July 14th

Final: May 29th







