Football league are going to try and stop this from happening again next season http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...onal-loan-players-against-Crystal-Palace.html
I think it's only fair that the cap on loan players includes those from overseas too. Also good to see that the EC is backing our current Emergency Loan system. FIFA will probably brush their findings under the carpet though.
I think this is a case of being careful what you wish for. For instance, if a loan from overseas is equivalent to a domestic loan from next season, and EU backing is the only thing keeping the emergency loan system in place, what then? We could easily end up in a situation where clubs can loan overseas players at any time in the season. That would surely be worse for English football than the current rules. At the same time (and let's say for argument's sake that my team doesn't get promoted), Watford could end up loaning first-team Serie A or La Liga players on a short term basis. I'm not saying that I want any of the above to happen. And I would even go as far as to agree that we are using a loophole that should be closed (although the loophole that Palace and Birmingham are using with Zaha and Butland also needs dealing with). But a European ruling that domestic and foreign loans must be treated the same would be a far bigger threat to English football than what Watford are currently doing, and for that reason the Football League needs to be very careful about how they deal with this.
There is nothing wrong with what Man U and Stoke have done with Butland and Zaha by loaning them back. I dont see anything wrong in that at all. Both team wanted to sign them before anyone else got in for them. But for the development they are best off staying at their current club until the end of the season. Maybe to keep everyone happy the transfer should just be agreed and it will then be completed in the summer with no money changing hands until them
I agree, nothing wrong with this if United and Stoke don't think those players are ready for their Prem first teams just yet. But I do think there should be a limit on the number of loanees clubs have, no matter where they're loaned from. If Palace had their limit of loanees, then they shouldn't be able to have Zaha back but, aside from that, it's not really an issue.
That would be fine, because Palace would be taking the risk on the player up to the point where he is actually sold. At the moment, Palace have £10m worth of player, £10m worth of cash, and they can bank on the latter even if the player suffers a career-threatening injury on their watch.
