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This week's loan report will be on the shorter side due to winter breaks, as only a handful of Chelsea youngsters are still in action at the moment. Quite a few players have returned to Cobham, and in the coming weeks I'd expect to begin hearing about new homes for many of them.
- Romelu Lukaku (West Bromwich Albion): Steve Clarke must be thinking about keeping Lukaku in West Brom, because the Kraken started a pair of games for the baggies this week. He played the full 90 minutes and found the back of the net against Fulham before playing an additional 88 minutes in the FA Cup against QPR.
- Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid): Courtois got another start against Mallorca, a game that ended locked at 1-1. There wasn't too much he could have done with that particular goal, and apart from that it was a pretty quiet day for him.
- Michael Essien (Real Madrid): Essien started and played 90 minutes for Real in a 4-3 victory over Real Sociedad. I didn't think he played particularly well, but he's just not a fullback.
- Josh McEachran (Middlesbrough): Did not play due to injury
- Sam Hutchinson (Nottingham Forest): Did not play due to injury
- Nathaniel Chalobah (Watford): Chalobah started a pair of games for Watford this week after extending his loan spell to last the remainder of the season. He was excellent against Charlton on the weekend before being generally impressive in a loss to Manchester City. The performance left very little doubt that he's capable of playing in the Premier League right now.
- Patrick Bamford (MK Dons): Did not play due to injury
- Todd Kane (Preston North End): Kane started a pair of games and reportedly played fairly well before ending his loan spell at Preston North End.
- Ulises Davila (CE Sabadell): Davila started and played another 90 minutes this week, and earned generally positive reviews for his performance.
- Jhon Pirez (Leganes): Did not play
