Chelsea FC loan roundup: April 16, 2013

This week saw plenty of Chelsea youngster get meaningful minutes, and re-affirmed the existance of one we were beginning to forget about. We had several miss games due to injury, and quite a few that will be disappointed with their results. This was also a good week to be Cristian Cuevas, who played 90 minutes on the left side of the O'Higgins midfield over in Chile. He's not going to be added to the loan report yet, but be aware that he's now seeing first team minutes despite his age and the fact that he's leaving soon. That can only be a good thing.

• Romelu Lukaku (West Bromwich Albion): Lukaku had the weekend off, as West Brom were scheduled to face Manchester City on Monday. As was the case with Tottenham and Chelsea, that game had to be postponed to fit in the FA Cup semifinal.
• Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid): Another week, another clean sheet for Thibaut Courtois. Granada actually managed to test him a few times in their 5-0 loss, but they just couldn't get anything by the Belgian.
• Michael Essien (Real Madrid): Essien started this week's Champions League quarterfinal tie with Gala, but walked off with an injury after about half an hour of play. It looks like he may be sidelined for a while, which leaves Real in a bind at right back.
• Lucas Piazon (Malaga): Piazon saw just over 10 minutes this weekend against Osasuna, getting only a handful of touches as they held on for a 1-0 win. He went unused midweek as Malaga crashed out in the final minutes against Borussia Dortmund, and now he may be hard pressed to see regular minutes for the remainder of the year.
• Kevin De Bruyne (Werder Bremen): De Bruyne has looked fantastic of late, and he continued that excellent play in a 2-2 draw with Dusseldorf. He had an assist in one of his best all-around games of the season, and was easily the best attacking player on the pitch for either side.

• Jeffrey Bruma (Hamburger SV): Bruma was again left out of the 18-man squad for Hamburg, as a Heung-Min Son brace saw them take 3 much needed points. The win ended their 3-match losing streak, and keeps them in touch of a Champions League place with just 7 games to play.
• Matej Delac (Inter Zapresic): Delac continued to look very good despite his side losing 2-0 to the Croatian leaders this weekend. Apparently, there's no place like Croatia.
• Tomas Kalas, Patrick van Aanholt, Gael Kakuta (Vitesse Arnhem): All 3 Chelsea players on loan at vitesse played well this weekend, but the trio have to be devastated at the way this game ended up. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead over Roda JC, they gave up a trio of goals and wound up taking only a single point. The Ajax win over PSV moved them up to 2nd and a Champions League place, but it could have been a much better weekend for the Arnhem side.

• Kenneth Omeruo (ADO Den Haag): Omeruo played his usual 90 minutes at right back against Twente, and looked pretty good throughout the match. Den Haag's midfield fell apart after Danny Holla was sent off at the hour mark though, and they'd eventually lose the game 3-1. With the loss, Den Haag dropped 3 points behind the final Europa League playoff place.

• Thorgan Hazard (Zulte-Waregem): Like the trio at Vitesse, the younger Hazard will likely be disappointed in his team's result this weekend. Zulte had a chance to go top of the table on Friday, but despite a fantastic goal from Hazard, collapsed to lose 4-3.

• Wallace (Fluminense): Wallace was awarded the start and played the full 90 minutes against Flamengo, and by all accounts held his own. Flu lost the match 3-1, the full highlights can be seen below.

• Josh McEachran (Middlesbrough): McEachran started this weekend's tie against Brighton on the bench, but came on in the 70th minute with his side trailing by a goal. He was pretty invisible in what ended up being a 2-0 loss, as Boro continue to look terrible in 2013. The loss pretty much erased any remaining hope that Boro had of making the Premier League, as they now trail the final playoff spot by 8 points.
• Sam Hutchinson (Nottingham Forest): Hutch missed this weekend's 3-0 loss to Cardiff which saw Forest drop to 7th in the Championship table. How he's used over the final weeks of the season will be fascinating, as 6th place would give the club a shot at playing for a Premier League spot.
• Todd Kane (Blackburn Rovers): Kane continued his excellent play of late, starting and playing the full 90 minutes in a are Blackburn win. The win sees Rovers move 1 point clear of the relegation zone, and Kane was rewarded by having his loan extended for the remainder of the season today.
• George Saville (Millwall): I'm sure you've seen reports of Millwall fans fighting Millwall fans this weekend at Wembley. My theory is that they were arguing about the failure to include George Saville after he finally played for 56 minutes against Sheffield Wednesday midweek. he didn't look particularly sharp against Wednesday, likely due to the fact that he's barely seen the pitch of late.
• Nathaniel Chalobah (Watford): Chalobah had a rare poor performance over the weekend, playing 60 minutes as Watford dropped 3 valuable points to Petersborough. Watford are all but assured of a place in the promotion playoff, but now sit 6 points behind Hull for the 2nd automatic place (although they have a significant edge in the tiebreaker).
• Ulises Davila (CE Sabadell): Davila got a start this week and added another assist to his tally for the season. Most of his reviews from this weekend's game were very good, so hopefully he's found a vein of good form.
• Patrick Bamford (MK Dons): Bamford started a pair of games for Dons this week, and looks to have cemented a starting place for the side. He was taken off after 78 minutes in the mid-week tie, and played the full 90 over the weekend.
• Sam Walker, Billy Clifford (Colchester United): Clifford was given the weekend off, but Walker had his usual place in goal as Colchester lost 3-1 to Notts County this weekend. Walker wasn't as dominating as he's been of late this weekend, but he certainly wasn't poor either.
• Jhon Pirez (Leganes): Just as we were again beginning to doubt the existence of Pirez, he played about 20 minutes in the second half for Leganes. He's real, even if he's not spectacular.