Derby County may be able to use Chelsea loanees in the League Cup against Chelsea

Over at Derby County, Chelsea loanees Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori have quickly become integral parts to the team’s success, including in the League Cup, where they pulled off the biggest upset of round three by eliminating Manchester United at Old Trafford.

As fat would have it, they now have to face Chelsea in the next round, meaning that Frank Lampard, after measuring himself against this former mentor, now gets to take on his former team. But whether he’ll be able to call on Mount and Tomori is unknown at this point.

We’re used to the stipulation that loanees cannot face their parent teams (see: Kenedy this season, Zouma last season, etc.), but that’s actually just a Premier League rule.

[...] during the period of the Temporary Transfer of his contract registration a Player shall not play against the Transferor Club

-Premier League Handbook; Section V, Rule V.7.2

In League Cup matches, there is a possible exception to the rule and it is possible for Chelsea to give “written consent” and the only stipulation from then on is that those players cannot represent the parent club in the same competition later that season. Since that’s highly unlikely for either loanee, there’s little reason to deny them this opportunity.

The one additional potential complication is that this consent would’ve had to have been given at the start of the loan. It cannot be agreed or changed now, after the fact of the draw.

Chelsea faced a similar but even bigger decision a few years ago when the question of Thibaut Courtois playing again his parent club came up in the 2012 Super Cup as well as the 2013-14 Champions League semifinals. In both instances, Courtois was able to face Chelsea (and win, even).

With a month to go until this fixture, there’s plenty of time to figure out whether Mount and Tomori can play at Stamford Bridge. Hopefully the answer is ‘yes’.