Chelsea Loan Round-up: Fringe players see minutes in midweek cup games

ENGLAND:

Marco van Ginkel made his first appearance in the Stoke City starting XI in a while for their Capital One Cup quarter-final against Sheffield Wednesday. Playing the full 90, Van Ginkel, by most accounts, turned in one of his better displays in a Stoke shirt and hopefully will be in the reckoning for more Premier League minutes soon.

A few months later, Stoke have been crowned Capital One Cup Champions and Wulfert has signed for them permanently, stating he 'wants to win trophies'. Called it!

Patrick Bamford played and scored, in a behind closed doors friendly game against League Two outfit, Crawley Town as part of a strong-looking second string Crystal Palace side. Even though it was in a game of such low profile (and opposition), one would imagine any sort of goals can only do good for the young striker.

Michael Hector wore the captain's armband in the absence of club captain, Paul McShane, not for the first time this season. Lucas Piazon was not present in the match-day squad. Unfortunately, Reading lost 0-1 to QPR on the day, continuing a worrying run of form that has seen them win only one out of their last eight games.  Unsurprisingly, former Chelsea man Steve Clarke was sacked. This could prospectively mean less minutes for Piazon, who was selected more often than not by Clarke, despite not doing much to justify his selection.

Tomas Kalas wasn't able to feature for Middlesbrough, as they crashed out in the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup at the hands of Everton. However, the Czech defender has returned to full fitness and will be available for selection for Boro's weekend fixture against Ipswich Town.

BELGIUM:

Cristian Manea got his first start (and minutes) for Royal Mouscron, helping his side overcome Oud-Heverlee Leuven in the Beker van Belgie. Mouscron will now face Genk in the quarter finals.

STVV, on the other hand, lost 2-0 to Standard Liege. Joao Rodriguez got a 10-minute cameo appearance, while Victorien Angban and Cristian Cuevas were absent from the match-day squad.

ITALY:

Stipe Perica started for Udinese and scored his side's second goal, as they overcame Atalanta to progress to the next round of the Coppa Italia. Here's his goal!

Speaking just after the game, the youngster said,

I'm delighted to get on the scoresheet but even happier with our third straight win. We have a really tough game against Fiorentina on Sunday but we'll go there with the aim of winning.

Wallace started, too, for Carpi, who also won 2-1 against Serie B side, Vicenza.

FRANCE:

Jeremie Boga got his second start on the bounce, as Rennes took on Marseille. Yet again in the number 9 role, Boga played the whole 90. Here's an assessment on his performance from Canal Plus pundit, Sebastian Chapuis:

Boga has been unlucky with offside decisions tonight. Willing to collect the ball and link up but rather isolated (and a right back as #10).

— Sébastien Chapuis (@SeBlueLion_EN) December 3, 2015

Boga looks like a senior attacker when he gets on the ball, back to goal, running in behind. But Rennes can't move the ball in att areas...

— Sébastien Chapuis (@SeBlueLion_EN) December 3, 2015

Rennes ultimately lost 1-0.

Mario Pasalic was restored to the AS Monaco starting line-up for their match against second-placed Caen. He was substituted in the 84th, the game ending in a 1-1 stalemate. Monaco sit sixth, but only two points behind Angers, in third (and four behind their opponents on the day).

OTHERS:

Kenneth Omeruo started for Kasimpasa in their Cup game versus Kastamonuspor. News is now surfacing that the Turkish side are very happy with Kenneth, and would like to buy him outright for 5 million pounds. This seems very much plausible, seeing that Omeruo has only a year and a half left on his current deal and the club would rather sell him now than lose him for nothing.

EXTRAS:

Contrasting reports emerged this week, regarding the future of Ulises Davila. While one source cited that the 24-year-old aging midfielder would return to Mexico to play for Santos Laguna, the other contradicted reports claiming so, citing a source close to the player and saying that instead, the Mexican would look to stay in Europe.

Todd Kane is on Twitter, and you should follow him! Delightful lad, that one.

Getting ready for training! #NECNijmegen #Chelseafc #NEC #Focused #CFC #football #TBT #Training pic.twitter.com/TWW4QAUxnQ

— Todd Kane (@Toddy_Kane) December 3, 2015

Too many hashtags though. Too many.

Check out this mean volley scored by Lewis Baker in training, marking the start of the Advent Video Calendar!