Morning all.

Loans!

Why there is a rule which doesn’t allow any player who is out on loan to play against their club is beyond me. Surely, the sole reason a player gets loaned out in the first place is because at that stage in his career, he is not deemed either good enough or maybe mature enough to play at the level his club are at. Maybe other reasons come into play also but fundamentally, his manager knows he’s not going to play him.

Right?

That being the case, why should any club/manager fear that loaned player playing against them?

One good example isΒ Romelu Lukaku of Everton, a club who would be down in 11th place without his goals. There is no doubting he’s a good player already and I truly believe that he’s going to get better and better as the seasons come and go but right now, he’s permitted to play against every side in the Premier League but not Chelsea of course but is that fair?

He’s already scored 8 goals in 10 appearances this season and the way Everton are playing right now, they really have a chance of finishing in the top 5/6 if not higher but him not playing against Chelsea could in theory cost Everton 6 points should they lose both matches.

On the flip side to that, Lukaku could go along nicely all season scoring goals which help Everton beat the clubs who are challenging for the Premier League title, therefore giving Chelsea an advantage.

Is that really fair?

I’m not just saying this because Everton come to The Emirates tomorrow and Lukaku offers a threat to our good run, it’s a daft rule to have in the league and it’s one that in my opinion, should be thrown out.

Mourinho has allegedly said that Lukaku isn’t good enough to compete with Torres.

Surely if a player isn’t deemed good enough to start for his club then any one manager should not truly fear him playing against his side and if he does, why loan him out in the first place?

As any season comes to a close, there is often a huge fight for clubs to either survive, win the league or grab a place in both European competitions and clubs want their players to be available to play in those crunch matches.

Imagine if this season all came down to one match where we were level on points/goals with Chelsea and they had to play Everton.

I know I’d want Lukaku to be up against them, wouldn’t you?

Arsene’s view:

The system of loaning out players has existed for a while,Β I’m not against it, I just think that the players should be allowed to play against the team who has loaned them out as well.

I always pleaded for that because there is no reason once you signed for a club that you should not be allowed to play against everybody. When you sign for a club it means ‘I commit for every single game I play for this club’. There should be no exception.

I remember I had that case with Francis Jeffers [a few years ago] when I loaned him out and I always said ‘yes, if I loan a player out I allow him to play against us’. Even, as in the case of Jeffers, he scored against us.

I just think it is right.

I totally agree Arsene!

There’s an interesting article HERE which shows exactly how loanee players have already affected this seasons league positions.

We’d still be exactly as we are right now though. Top!

That’s it for today…..