Arsenal: No one is talking about loan problem

Arsenal sent 15 players out on loan during the 2017/18 season. Few had a successful time. The Gunners have a loan problem and no one is talking about it.

The loan system can be hugely advantageous for clubs with squads the size as Arsenal’s. The young prospects that are in need of regular first-team football to further their development but will never be able to find that at their current club are prime for a loan departure to a lower-league side.

Catch the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal podcast right here

And Arsene Wenger has used it very well in the past. Jack Wilshere flourished for six months at Bolton before breaking through at the Emirates; Aaron Ramsey returned to Cardiff in the closing stages of his recovery from his broken leg to gain match sharpness; Calum Chambers enjoyed a solid, consistent year in the northeast before establishing himself as the third-choice centre-half this past season.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

It is a system that can help young players to prosper and for the parent clubs to later reap the rewards of that development. But unfortunately, while Wenger has used it well on the odd occasion, on the whole, especially recently, it has not been so prosperous for many of the Arsenal youngsters. Take last season for example. This is a brilliant piece by Football London reviewing all of the campaigns for the 15 loanees.

To quickly summarise: Only Tafari Moore, Julio Pleguezuelo, Chuba Akpom and Marc Bola had vaguely successful loans. The majority were cut short by injury, with the likes of Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Stephy Mavididi and Joel Campbell impressing in short glimpses only to see their appearances drastically cut down thanks to injury, with some even returning to north London to undertake their rehabilitation.

What was most frustrating, however, was the loans like Emiliano Martinez. The goalkeeper made just five La Liga starts, sitting on the bench as the reserve for the majority of the season. Cohen Bramall also couldn’t hold a first-team role down. The same can be said for Takuma Asano.

This is where the loan problem lies: sending players to teams where they are not going to play. It utterly defeats the point of sending the player out on loan in the first place. If they are going to sit on the bench and in the reserves in the Championship, why don’t they just do that at the Emirates?

As Unai Emery now takes the reigns, it is important that the players that he deems short of the first-team squad but still a prospect for the future are afforded the correct opportunities for them to further their development at other clubs. Perhaps some of the playing problems were down to the quality of the players. ‘Was Bramall ever good enough for Birmingham?’, for example. But some of that responsibility rests on the club. They should be identifying the right club at the right level of competition for the right player at that particular point in his career.

Next: Arsenal: 3 positions that need addressing cheaply

Last year, Arsenal did not do that. The results speak for themselves. Emery must do a better job next season. This can be a real benefit to this squad if it used correctly.