Column

The Loan Danger

I'll be the first to admitt that Steven Pienaar has made me purr this season with his relentless work rate and his excellent technique. I'll also admit that Manny Fernandes thrilled me last season with his outrageous flair and limitless potential. My final admittance, is that a couple of players we've been linked with on loan this January, namely Steve Sidwell and Daniel van Buyten, would be decent signings and could well cement our place in the top six come May, meaning another European campaign.

Happy days: a few more jollies away in Europe next season, yet more recognition for the excellent job Moyes is doing, and all is rosie in the Goodison garden.

My main concern with this situation however, is what happens over the summer months, if indeed Sidwell and Van Buyten do sign on loan (and that is a rather big if, with Portsmouth and Celtic sniffing round each respectively at the time of writing) we could face the situation of having the back bone of a team on our books temporarily, with their futures up in the air. We could have our first reserve centre half, our first choice midfield enforcer (assuming Sidwell dislodged Carsley) and two of our three main creative midfielders with their future in limbo.

If one considers the worst-case scenario, we could actually end up in a worse situation come June than we are in now. Transfer fee will be an issue with Van Buyten and Fernandes, with Bayern and Valencia probably asking for about £4 million and upwards of £8 million respectively. With Sidwell, Moyes's possible unwillingness to match his Chelsea wages, and Chelsea's possible unwillingness to sell him permanently to a team they see as an increasing threat could be a problem. Pienaar is probably the player we're most likely to secure on a permanent deal, given his positive media statements and the fact that Dortmund were willing to do without him for a whole season. However, the club which had its fingers and its pride burnt last summer over the whole Fernandes U-Turn should know that nothing is certain when it comes to making loan deals permanent.

So while I'm all for January reinforcements to keep things fresh, and am aware that loan signings offset the risk of transfer window panic buying at inflated prices, I would humbly urge caution. If the two loan signings mentioned were to arrive, or if any others joined, and they as well as Fernandes and Pienaar were to leave in the summer, then the blues position could, as already mentioned, be worse in June that it is now. This would necessitate major forays into the summer transfer market to ensure we didnt stand still, or worse, move backwards. Whether the money would be available for this with a potential new stadium to finance is open to debate.

This article is largely hyperthetical and I'm no doubt getting ahead of myself, but I would still urge Diamond Davie to balance out the appeal of short-term transfer fixes with the overall goal of long-term progression.

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