Due to the nature of this truncated transfer window, I can see why the loan market looks appealing is necessary. Lots of Championship clubs are in the same boat that we are and bringing in loans (check out the Championship BBC home page). I like how Hurst is being proactive and identifying the right areas where we need additional quality. The number of loanees is not ideal, and the spectre of Jewell’s tenure (where we were overly reliant on loanees) does loom large. However, Mick often relied on loans in years gone by. We had four in the squad last season and five the season before.
Edun and Walters look like good loanees, who bring different qualities to the team. Chalobah looks like he needs a sustained run of games, and my suspicion is we will not see anywhere near his best footballing years at the club. Jordan Graham is a gamble, but could be an inspired one (I personally doubt it). This Pennington move adds numbers to the central defence, but again is an example of a Premier League kid coming into the side to gain experience and effectively benefit his parent club. Giving that some people were so against the McAuley deal, surely this is a better alternative as you can’t get many young, talented central defenders on freebies (as we found out under the previous manager).
Hopefully both Emmanuel and Nydam will gain experience and improve as players at Shrewsbury and St Johnstone.
