With us having six (or is it seven now?) loan signings on board, and many calling for us to sign half of them up on a permanent, it got me thinking about the players we've had temporarily on loan before they became permanent signings. It's actually got me quite concerned. Think about it: McShane. After signing him on a permanent I thought we'd signed a pretty solid defender, capable of Premier League football. He was solid during his loan spell, trying to impress, but once he won his permanent contract he turned into.. well.. McShane. Zayatte. Brilliant partnership with Turner in a six-month loan spell before snapping him up on a permanent in January. Started making his mistakes after that, and, as much as I liked the guy, he deteriorated from then on until he was eventually released. Gardner. Didn't actually play for us before turning his loan signing into a permanent deal, freeing up loan spaces, but still. It's Gardner. It had to be said. ***an. Real star when we re-signed him on loan from Derby. You know the rest. I'm sure there's other examples but I can't think of any off hand. I know Deano will get mentioned, obviously he didn't become a flop but considering it's his home club, etc, he's different. Hopefully if we sign any of the current loanees they won't go the same way, and hopefully neither will Cameron Stewart. Of course, you can't say that every loan-permanent will turn out this way but psychologically, a player who is shipped out on loan, whether he is trying to win a contract at the loaning club or prove himself to his parent club, is likely to perform better. I'm struggling to find the words to describe this but I imagine the majority of you will know where I'm coming from. Thoughts?
I think its impossible to get any sort of pattern from these, each situation is completely different. I'm sure there are examples of players on loan almost playing for a contract and once they do their form or attitude or both suffer. The likes of Gerrard, Hobbs or Evans certainly don't strike me as this kind of professional.
Signing Corry and Vito permanently for me is a no brainier, as long as both their prices are right of course.
In addition to the deals already mentioned(including Deano's), there was also Cameron Stewart. There will also be Hobbs and Evans in the summer, possibly Gerrard and a slim chance of Mannone. What's gone before doesn't have any bearing on what will happen in the future, we're in a completely different place now.
John Welsh. Does Walters count dj? It wasn't a conversion from a loan to a permanent, there was a season in between.
i just seem to remember him scoring something like 4 in 4 on loan..then when he signed, couldnt hit a cows backside with a banjo.. not sure if it counts, your the mod, you decide
He scored 5 in 11 while on loan, then 2 in 37 once we'd signed him, but for some reason I still liked him as a player(we did mainly play him as a winger once he signed permanently). He scored two on his début, against my solicitors team, that's probably why I liked him.
