Premiership clubs are living on borrowed time as the clock ticks down to tonight’s transfer deadline and many will end up turning to the loan market for a quick fix to see them through to January.
More and more, Scotland’s top-flight bosses are peering over the border to ask their English counterparts for a lend of their best youngsters after finding themselves short in one department or another.
Rearing players for the eventual benefit of another club is never the ideal option but for the resourceful boss, the benefits can be mutual.
With cash-rich outfits like Manchester City and Chelsea regularly stockpiling so much talent that they can have 20 to 30 players out on loan at one time, there is no shortage of options available.
Yet there is no guarantee of success just because you’re borrowing a player from a Premier League academy. For every James Maddison - who used a stint at Aberdeen as a springboard towards England honours - there is a Jonjoe Kenny or an Ovie Ejaria.
But why should the English big guns lend their brightest and best north of the border? And what’s in it for the fresh-faced teen plucked from his home comforts to be sent hundreds of miles away?
Here Record Sport talks to three people with intimate knowledge of the loan game to find out what the Premiership has to offer.
The sporting director – Hibs’ Graeme Mathie
“When we speak to clubs down south, the big selling points we put to them is that we are guaranteed to be playing in front of 16 sell-out crowds every year against the likes of Rangers, Celtic, Hearts and Aberdeen which is a fantastic experience for a young player.
“We’re a club who are under pressure to do well and achieve things. Hopefully these players coming up here will be getting into the latter stages of cup competitions too.
“So the on-field experience for young players is great in Scotland and those coming up here will be on TV far more than the guys playing down in League One or Two in England.
“Moving to Scotland really does shine a spotlight on you but it’s really about what stage of the young player is at in his development and what his club wants.
“We’ve been speaking to lots of clubs from various countries over the last few years to try and learn more about what modern clubs are implementing.
“A loan manager from an EPL club highlighted how they use loans for different reasons - sometimes they send players to environments where they know they will be successful. They called it hiding their weaknesses to try and create a value.
“Other times they send players to environments where they know their weaknesses will be challenged to try and help them develop. It sounds very simple but an interesting concept and shows the level of thought and detail that goes into loans now.
“There is still though a reluctance at some clubs to look at Scottish football as somewhere they can place their players. I think it’s incumbent on all of us to talk our game up though because we do have a good product.
“You just have to look at the number of players who have come up here on loan or been developed in Scotland who have now kicked on. It’s pretty considerable.
“Motherwell did it well a few years back with Lukas Jutkiewicz and John Ruddy, who both went on to play in the Premier League, while James Maddison at Aberdeen is probably the shining example.
“They were able to super-charge their development because they were playing in a competitive league where they were tested.
“Jack Ross is keen that we develop our own players so for us it’s about using the loans strategically.
“The James Scott one is a bit of a mixed one on that front. We’ve brought him in from Hull to help us through a period where injuries have left us short and while we don’t have an option to buy we do hopefully see a future for him here beyond his loan period.
“We haven’t brought many players out of an academy down south. Jake Sinclair was one we brought in from Southampton. He was one of the top scorers in the English Under-23 league at the time.
“He had good pace, good movement, could finish and we thought, brilliant. But Jake would be the first to admit that the circumstances of the move - living away from home for the first time and fending for himself - were probably one of the reasons why he didn’t do as well as he’d hope.
“So for that reason I have been a bit reluctant to put guys like that on the table to Jack.
“We’ve got a new relationship with Brighton now though and there is a real desire to develop players together. It might mean guys come up here and train for a month without actually signing, just so they can get that experience of living in a new environment.
“We’ve done something similar with Stenhousemuir last year with Jayden Fairley which has worked well and hopefully we produce similar results with Brighton.”
The loan manager – Leicester’s Guy Branston
“What has always struck me about Scottish football is the enthusiasm and the intensity of the game up there. We really like what that instills in our young lads when we send them up on loan.
“When you combine that with the actual quality of the football in Scotland, then you realise the Premiership is actually a very good league to place your players in.
“I’m a massive fan of Scottish football, I’ve got some really good friends at Dundee, Motherwell and Hibs and there are a lot of clubs who can provide high-end football for our lads.
“Is it a league we tap into enough? I’m not sure we do.
“We sent Filip Benkovic to Celtic a few years ago. He’s a hell of a player. We sent him to the top club in the country at that time and he was a big hit with the Celtic fans and Brendan too.
“The gaffer is now down here at Leicester and we know that the Scottish Premiership is different to the Premier League but I can see Filip being very successful in the future with Leicester. It’s just about getting the right opportunities to get him some game time.
“But we certainly saw the benefit in sending him to Celtic.
“The reasons for sending a player out on loan are specific to every player.
“Andy King - who was 30 - got something different out of going to Rangers than Darnell Johnson did going to Hibs aged 20. Darnell learned a hell of a lot working at Hibs. Even just basic skills like cooking for himself and living on his own were beneficial.
“When we chose a club, we have to make sure we’re taking into consideration those individual traits. Will the player be able to cope living on their own? Is he too young to go up to Scotland? Is he too old to go up there? Well-being wise, what state is his mentality in?
“We don’t send out an abundance of players. With other clubs, they may have 20 or 30 players out on loan because that’s their business model.
“At Leicester, we’re very selective in what we do and we take our time choosing the right clubs because we want to be successful.
“I know what a good loan looks like - I should do, I had 15 of them during my playing days.
“The lads I’m dealing with at Leicester are elite athletes so we have to treat them like that, even when they are not here at our club. We want them to become first-team players for Leicester.
“Look at Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Brendan has taken a shine to him so we’ve put him into Blackpool in League One. He absolutely strolled it, went to Luton and did great. Now he’s on the bench at Leicester.
“I know Brendan had some success with loans when he was at Celtic - I remember watching Patrick Roberts during that time when he was in fantastic form.
“From speaking to him here I know he wants the young lads playing under-23s for a while but ultimately he wants them out playing men’s football so they are ready to join his squad.”
The player – Dom Ball
“I was only 20 when I moved up to Rangers but I’ll be honest, before that I didn’t know too much about Scottish football.
“I’d watched a few Rangers-Celtic games as a young kid but beyond that, I didn’t have much of a clue.
“Added to that, when I got the chance to move up Rangers were in the Championship so it really was a step into the unknown. I had no idea what to expect.
“But I was taken aback by what I found up here.
“The size of the club, the size of the crowds, the media intensity around Rangers were all incredible and for the first time I really felt like a professional footballer when I signed for the club.
“I can honestly say now that joining Rangers on loan was one of the best things that could have happened to me.
“Playing in front of 50,000 fans every week was an incredible experience for me at such a young age. Even when we went away to places like Morton, Dumbarton and Alloa, we were taking thousands of supporters with us.
“That exposure of playing in those kind of environments really did prepare me for going on to play at a high level in England.
“I came back to Scotland later on loan from Rotherham when I joined Aberdeen. Even then I was playing Rangers, Celtic, Hearts and Hibs. A lot of those games were televised and that really helps to put you in the shop window.
“My time in Scotland surpassed expectations massively.
“My first loan at Rangers was an amazing season, I absolutely loved it there. I was able to play on a huge stage and we also took on some good teams during our cup runs. That made me a much better player.
“I remember going on loan to Cambridge before coming to Glasgow. I played 11 games in League Two and was then due to go somewhere in League One.
“But I’m so grateful I then got the opportunity at Rangers because there would be no comparison to what I experienced at Ibrox. I played in an Old Firm game, won two medals and should have had a third in the Scottish Cup final.
“To be honest, that Old Firm game at Hampden is still the highlight of my career. I remember Mark Warburton - who is my manager again here at QPR - said to us all after that game, ‘Make sure this isn’t the highlight of your career’ and that is still motivating me to this day. I want to go on and win more with QPR.
“Any time I speak to the youngsters down here I always tell them to take the chance and give Scotland a try if it comes up. Getting the chance to play some top clubs in a competitive environment.
“Just look at Liam Kelly, he has left us to go back up to Motherwell and is now in the Scotland squad.
“I came from a big club in Spurs but really believe the exposure I got when I joined Rangers and then Aberdeen was a lot more than if I’d have headed to a club in League One or Two in England.
“I’m always grateful for the opportunities I got. Rangers was amazing and moving to Aberdeen under Derek McInnes when I’d been struggling at Rotherham helped me get my love back for football.
“That has really put me back into a good position to come back down south and join a squad that is now hopefully going to be pushing towards the top end of the Championship this year.”
