A lot of people seemed surprised that Sir Alex recalled youngsters Ritchie de Laet and Joshua King from Preston after the club sacked his son Darren Ferguson. I'm not. Not one little bit. Most loan agreements are about who the manager of the club is rather than the team.
Jack Wilshere was originally going to be loaned to Burnley in January but when Owen Coyle took over at Bolton, that's where the midfielder went. I saw this as a clear sign that Mr Wenger was interested in his player being looked after by a man he believed, shared his ethos and would look after the player in the way he deemed necessary.
Similarly if you look at players loaned out by Manchester United this season, they often have a link to the club or Sir Alex himself.
*Mama Diouf - At Blackburn, a club that was until recently being managed his good friend Sam Allardyce.
*Danny Welbeck - At Sunderland with former Manchester United player, Steve Bruce.
*Tom Cleverley - Currently with Roberto Martinez at Wigan, a manager who is known to get on well with Sir Alex.
Loaning out players is a big risk to clubs as there is always the chance the player will come back injured. But by making considered choices their parent club can assure they continue to be educated and mature within the ideal environment. In a nine month season, what they learn at their 'foster club' will either bring good or bad habits and why would you want your star of the future playing in a culture at contrast to your own. Whether that be on the training pitch or off it, hence why PL teams rarely loan players to London clubs because of the temptation it can bring.
I'm not saying that Preston wouldn't have looked after the boys or that there wasn't a bit of revenge involved but ultimately, Sir Alex can no longer oversee their time there to the extent that he could before. At the end of the day, players are a commodity and he or any other manager has the right to nurture them the way they see fit.
What do you think?
I agree that it's fair enough. I also agree that there's a certain amount of trust involved in loaning young players out, particularly for a full season at such a crucial stage of their development. Often, these are players who have cost the club a fair bit of money and their parent club will want them to be handled in a particular way.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying there wasn't something else at play in this particular case but, when all is said and done, I agree with your point that it should be down to the manager.
I haven't actually added much to the debate here because you've covered everything very well.
Nicely written.
No, thank you for your comment. It's nice to know I'm talking sense (for a change).
ReplyDeleteI just felt everyone would see it as 'you sacked my son, so there' situation, rather than looking at the bigger picture of what Sir Alex may have considered.