Chelsea Loan Round-up: 28 August - 13 September

ENGLAND:

Kurt Zouma played the entirety of Everton’s 3-1 beating of Rotherham United in the EFL Cup, and their subsequent 1-1 draw against Huddersfield in the league. He’s been a dependable option for the Toffees in the absence of Michael Keane but will have a fight for a place on his hands soon enough, with the return of Yerry Mina to full fitness soon.

Kenedy’s horror show against Cardiff was followed by another abysmal display versus Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup. However, Rafa Benitez kept faith in the Chelsea talent and started him against Manchester City on Saturday. The winger wasn’t his flamboyant self in offence but showed the capacity to track back and fulfill his defensive responsibilities ably. Unfortunately, he began to complain of a headache and was probably unwell when he was replaced by Christian Atsu, a former Blue, in only the 54th minute. Hopefully he’s on his way back to form.

Lewis Baker and Jamal Blackman started for Leeds United in the EFL Cup against Preston but will now see their opportunities to impress grow even fewer in number, as the outcome was a 0-2 win to their opponents. Neither got off the bench in Leeds’ goalless draw against Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Trevoh Chalobah was dropped from the Ipswich starting XI as Paul Hurst opted to deploy a 4-4-2 shape in the East Anglian Derby. Cole Skuse and Jon Nolan were picked ahead of Chalobah to play in midfield, although an injury to Skuse late into the first half meant that Trevoh would see out the remainder of the game. He put in a solid defensive display, and is likely to see more minutes if Skuse’s injury is as serious as it seemed.

Reece James played 90 minutes and help Wigan keep a clean sheet in their 1-0 win over Rotherham United. The youngster has reduced Wigan’s previous Player of the Year, Nathan Byrne, to an occasional substitute and that is testament to how well he’s been doing.

Kasey Palmer scored for Blackburn in the EFL Cup with an absolute peach of a free-kick in midweek after coming on as a substitute. They dispatched of Lincoln City with ease, powering their way to a 4-1 win but the tables were on the receiving end of the exact same scoreline against Bristol City on Sunday. Palmer played 72 minutes and could’ve changed the outcome of the game had he found the net instead of hitting the woodwork from close range to make it 2-0 to Blackburn, but it was not to be.

Tomas Kalas added another impressive performance in the aforementioned game against Blackburn, for Bristol City, in the heart of defence. Jay Dasilva did not get on the pitch, though. He continues to be kept out of the XI by Bristol City academy graduate, Lloyd Kelly.

Todd Kane started a pair of games against Derby County at the KCOM Stadium, and although the Tigers lost both, Kane scored opened the scoring in the second fixture, which ultimately ended 1-2 in Derby’s favour.

Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori kept the starts coming for Derby County, playing every minute of 0-4 and 1-2 wins against Hull City. Mount added Derby’s fourth goal in the Carabao Cup win and also went on to score (and assist) for the England Under-21s during the international break. Although Mount did not directly contribute to a goal in the latter win, Frank Lampard reserved praise for the youngster nevertheless, claiming that there was much more to Mount’s game, which he showed on the day.

Bradley Collins started for Burton Albion, only a couple of days after his deadline-day loan move and kept a clean sheet in their 3-0 win against AFC Wimbledon.

Collins sat out Burton’s EFL Trophy match loss to Walsall but returned to the starting XI the following weekend, as the Brewers traveled to Accrington. Unfortunately, his impressive start was put to a halt by a thigh strain, which forced him off at the break. It was later revealed that Collins would be out for three to six weeks due to the same.

Charlie Colkett, despite not being involved in Shrewsbury’s previous three league games, did not start their EFL Trophy match against the Manchester City Under-23s. He did come on as a substitute in the second half, however, and ended up scoring the winning penalty in the shootout. Come the weekend, he was again omitted from the match-day squad. He made it back to the bench for Shrewsbury’s 1-1 draw against Portsmouth, but did not make his way off it.

Dujon Sterling returned from injury, coming on for Jack Grimmer in the second half of Coventry City’s 1-2 win against Oxford United, last weekend. He then played 60 minutes as the Sky Blues lost 0-3 to the Arsenal Under-23s in the EFL Trophy.

Ike Ugbo made his Scunthorpe debut with a 10-minute cameo against Accrington Stanley, before playing the full 90 in a dramatic 3-3 draw against Rochdale.

Jacob Maddox was rested for Cheltenham’s 1-0 loss to Brentford in the EFL Cup but returned to the starting XI as they hosted Colchester United on Saturday. Unfortunately, they failed to build on last week’s win against Cambridge United, losing 1-3 this time out. After a 4-0 loss to Forest Green in the EFL Trophy, in which Maddox did not feature, he returned to the starting XI as the Robins overcame the challenge of Northampton, 1-3. After sacking Gary Johnson three weeks ago, Cheltenham have now appointed former Burnley defender, Michael Duff, as manager.

Nathan Baxter kept two consecutive clean sheets, first in a 0-1 win against Grimsby and then versus Exeter in the EFL Trophy, where it ended goalless in normal time.

THE NETHERLANDS:

Telstar picked up their first 3 points of the season with a 2-0 win against Jong Utrecht. Kyle Scott made his first start for the Eerste Division team, playing 83 minutes. He then started their next couple of matches, a 1-4 win against Dordrecht and a 2-0 loss to Cambuur.

Vitesse had a 90 minutes they’d want to put behind them as quickly as possible; Leonid Slutsky’s side conceded three goals in the first 19 minutes to Ajax, going on to lose 0-4. Jake Clarke-Salter and Eduardo both played 90 minutes.

Meanwhile, Fankaty Dabo is yet to make his debut for Sparta Rotterdam. He’s been an unused substitute for two games.

ITALY:

Tiemoue Bakayoko was an unused substitute as AC Milan overcame the disappointment of a 3-2 loss to Napoli on opening day, to defeat Roma 2-1 thanks to a last-minute winner by Patrick Cutrone.

Mario Pasalic played 90 minutes in Atalanta’s 3-3 draw against Roma last Monday (which wasn’t covered in the previous Loan Round-up) and assisted Emiliano Ariel Rigoni’s second goal of the game.

While it was disappointing for Atalanta to relinquish their 3-1 lead over Roma, an even bigger disappointment was to follow that week. They could do no better than a goalless draw against FC Kobenhavn in their final Europa League qualifier and ultimately lost 4-3 on penalties. Pasalic only played 57 minutes of that fixture, coming off for young attacker, Musa Barrow.

Following more positive comments from Walter Mazzarri, Ola Aina was handed his first start for Torino versus SPAL. He played 86 minutes at left wing-back and was solid yet again, in the 1-0 win. The reason he was substituted was an injury, which ruled him out of international duty with Nigeria. However, he returned to training yesterday and is set to train today as well, ahead of the upcoming fixture against Udinese.

FRANCE:

Matt Miazga was once again impressive at the back for Nantes, who overcame an early deficit to beat Strasbourg 2-3.

Victorien Angban picked up a couple of starts for Metz this week; both games were against RC Lens, the first being a win in the League Cup and the second, a 2-0 win in Ligue 2. Metz currently sit five points clear atop the league table, and Angban has been an important part of their efforts.

GERMANY:

Baba Rahman was sacrificed for attacking midfielder, Amine Harit, in the 73rd minute as Schalke crumbled to a second successive defeat, losing 0-2 to Hertha Berlin.

SPAIN:

Michy Batshuayi replaced Kevin Gameiro in the 68th minute as Valencia were level with Levante, 2-2, but could do nothing to change the scoreline.

Joao Rodriguez saw his first involvement for Tenerife come in the form of a start up front against Deportivo La Coruna. He lasted 67 minutes of the 2-2 draw. He then started away at Malaga but was taken off after 42 minutes with a sprained ankle.

Kenneth Omeruo was not involved for Leganes.

Josimar Quintero made his first start for Lleida Esportiu, playing on right-wing and assisted their opening goal of a 2-0 win against Teruel. He then played the first half of their 1-0 Copa Del Rey win against Compostela.

SCOTLAND:

Ruben Sammut played 90 minutes as Falkirk remained rooted to the bottom of the Scottish Championship table with a 2-0 loss to Ross County. He was then an unused substitute in a 0-1 loss to Welsh side, Connah’s Quay, in the Challenge Cup. Falkirk are yet to pick up any points this season.

SERBIA:

Danilo Pantic played every minute, as Partizan Beograd suffered a crushing 3-0 loss to Besiktas, before bouncing back with a win in the League versus Backa Palanka.

BRAZIL:

Nathan did not play any minutes for Atletico Mineiro over three games.