For Liverpool, the loan market has been a fruitful one for a number of years in terms of nurturing their younger talent. Last season young Reds midfielder Tyler Morton enjoyed a strong campaign in the Championship for Blackburn Rovers, the same club where Harvey Elliott had shone two years previous during a season-long stint in English football’s second tier.
In previous years the Championship has seen players such as Harry Wilson ply their trade on loan, with his spells at Hull City, Derby County, AFC Bournemouth, Cardiff City and Fulham helping him both gain experience as well as protecting, and raising, his resale value that the club would eventually realise last summer when they sold him to Fulham in a £12m deal.
According to insights by sports business website Off The Pitch, it is the Championship that offers clubs the best opportunity to grow the value of their players out on loan when compared to the kind of growth seen by sending out to European clubs to gain experience.
Off The Pitch’s analysis showed that of the top 10 best performing loans in terms of market value growth at the end of deal across Europe, four of those deals involved transactions between Premier League and Championship clubs.
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Nathan Tello’s loan from Southampton to champions Burnley saw his value rise by £19.25m, while Amad Diallo’s loan stint at Sunderland from Manchester United brought a rise of £16.3m. Auston Trusty saw an £11m rise in his market valuation at the end of his loan spell at Birmingham City from Arsenal, and Alvaro Fernandez’s time on loan at Preston North End from Manchester United saw a £9.3m rise. The loan of Jordan Beyer to Burnley from Borussia Monchengladbach featured highly on the list, with his market value seeing a £13.5m jump.
Off The Pitch used their own player value tool, which uses a variety of metrics to ascertain value. In the case of Morton, who made 46 appearances for Rovers across all competitions last season, his value increase over the season stands at £2.5m, according to Transfermarkt.
Placing loan players in the right environment is important not only for development and readying them for the rigours of the Premier League, but also for what kind of financial sum the club might be able to obtain should the player, ultimately, be deemed to not be of the required calibre for the first team.
Where there has been success for clubs in placing their players in the Championship, the likes of Chelsea have been negatively impacted by sending their fringe players and want-aways out on loan to European leagues, with values for the 2022/2023 contingent of players from the West London side heading out on loan plummeting a staggering £70.8m during the past year.
Those falls were largely attributed to Romelu Lukaku’s loan at Internazionale, Callum Hudson-Odoi’s loan at Bayer Leverkusen, Ethan Ampadu’s stint at Italian side Spezia, Tiemoue Bakayoko’s stint at AC Milan and Malang Sarr’s temporary stay at AS Monaco.
Loans are a vital part of the model at even the biggest of clubs and making the right decisions and placing the players in the right environment can eventually pay financial dividends for clubs.
So far this summer, Liverpool have agreed to let defender Calvin Ramsay join Championship side Preston on a season-long loan. Fabio Carvalho is also poised to make a temporary switch to RB Leipzig, while centre-back Rhys Williams will have a spell at Aberdeen.
