Chelsea Loan Round-up: A new year full of goals!

It's a new year!  But same old loan army.

ENGLAND:

Marco van Ginkel failed to make an appearance in Stoke City's game in the Premier League versus West Bromwich Albion, and their Capital One Cup semi-final first leg against Liverpool.  Disappointing.

Lucas Piazon was an unused substitute while Michael Hector was suspended for Reading's weekend fixture against Bristol City.

Tomas Kalas continues to lose out on a place in Middlesbrough's starting XI to Emilio Nsue Lopez, and spent the entirety of their match against Derby County on the bench. With the 2-0 victory Boro moved four points clear at the top of the Championship, with a game in hand.

John Swift, who recently had his loan extended at Brentford, started their 2-1 loss against Birmingham City but was substituted in the 70th, for none other than ex-Chelsea youth player, Josh McEachran.  At least he played, unlike our other loanees in England.

FRANCE:

After a rather dull weekend for the Chelsea contingent, the midweek turned out to be much more eventful. Mario Pasalic was involved in an AS Monaco game for the first time since the 16th of December, coming on as a 68th-mintue substitute and scoring one of the ten(!) goals put past Saint-Jean Beaulieu (whoever they are) in the Coupe de France.

Jeremie Boga, on as Giovanni Sio's 69th minute replacement, scored for Rennes against Nice and also converted his penalty in the subsequent penalty-shootout, in which his team emerged victorious.

Here's his excellently taken penalty:

Boga penalty #LoanArmy #LoanWatch pic.twitter.com/TguPxbVR57

— Albert (@ZoumaIdini) January 4, 2016

ITALY:

Stipe Perica started for Udinese in their Serie A clash against Atalanta, and continued his good run of form by scoring his third goal in his last six appearances.  That's two game-winning goals for the 20-year-old in his last two games, either side of the winter break.

2-0 Stipe Perica Goal Italy Serie A - 06.01... by diyan-delev

Nathaniel Chalobah got to play the final minute or two of Napoli's 2-1 win over Torino.  It was his first ever appearance in the Serie A.  One for the scrapbooks, to be sure.

Meanwhile, Juan Cuadrado was not involved as Juventus beat Hellas Verona 3-0.  It was the defending champions' eighth straight victory and they're now just three points behind league leaders Internazionale.

OTHERS:

Islam Feruz was yet again resigned to a view from the bench for Hibernian.

Happy new year to one and all; hopefully it'll be a prosperous one for all of our players out on loan! Tell 'em, Toddy Kane.

Gonna work to I drop in 2016 to achieve the dream #chelsea #HappyNewYear #nec #Focused #NeverGiveUpOnYourDreams pic.twitter.com/dVB39tA86Q

— Todd Kane (@Toddy_Kane) January 1, 2016