Sports
Reviving a career with a loan spell: ‘You have to figure out if the loan is for you or someone else’
Heading out on loan in search of minutes is typical for young footballers looking to play senior football. Come their early or mid-twenties, though, it is often a sign of a player looking to resurrect a faltering career.
Chelsea’s Benoit Badiashile (borrowed by Napoli) and Alejandro Garnacho (Aston Villa), as well as Villa’s Evann Guessand (Crystal Palace), are a few Premier League players trying to inject fresh impetus into their careers with loans after falling out of favour at their parent clubs.
In January 2025, former Manchester United forward Antony went on loan to Real Betis before signing with them permanently six months later. For Trevoh Chalobah, who has since moved to Como, a brief loan to Palace kept him playing Premier League football when he found himself temporarily out of the picture at Chelsea.
But in other cases, it has not paid off. For example, Raheem Sterling’s loan to Arsenal from Chelsea for the bulk of the 2024-25 season saw him make just seven Premier League starts over the next nine months.
What happened to Raheem Sterling?
Tifo Football, Daniel Taylor and more
These loans can look like an obvious solution: a parent club will usually remove at least part of a player’s wages from the books, the individual in question secures the greater game time they crave, and the team signing them brings in extra cover or a ready-made starting XI option. But it requires careful thought for these deals to work for all parties.
First, the club potentially bringing in the loanee might have obvious reservations about taking on somebody who has fallen out of favour elsewhere.
“With these loans, there’s a reason they haven’t been playing — and it might well be a bad reason,” says a contact who used to work in recruitment for a Premier League club, speaking anonymously to protect relationships. “So you’d want to do all the due diligence you could to be sure that they’re not going to be injured, or they’re not going to be a problem in some other way.”
Fitness is a natural concern for those who have not played recently for their parent club, the same person adds.
“If they’ve only done 500 minutes last season, how certain are you that they could come in and play 90 minutes twice a week?”
In such circumstances, a club might be happy to share training or GPS data to alleviate that concern. If the player has been featuring for the under-21s while out of the picture at senior level, potential loan-destination teams could also look at physical data from those games.
Stylistic fit is another consideration — but the positive here, according to the former Premier League club employee, is that on-pitch factors are easier to judge once footballers reach a certain age, even if they haven’t been active recently:
“Most of the time, once you hit about 24 with a player, what you see is what you get. So with those players, you’d just go back to look at when they were playing regularly. ‘What type of striker is he? What formations do they play in? Does that bear any resemblance to how we play and what formation we play?’ It’s exactly the same as you’d do for a player that you’re looking to make a permanent transfer on.”
After struggling at Manchester United, Antony moved to Real Betis — initially on loan (Fran Santiago/Getty Images)
While a loan might be a cheaper option than a purchase, as there is no immediate transfer fee attached, there are still financial complications to consider — for instance, who covers what share of the player’s wages.
The primary concern for Nedum Onuoha, when he went on loan from Manchester City to Sunderland in August 2010 at 23, was simply securing more game time. “Essentially, you just want to play. That’s the bottom line,” the former defender tells The Athletic.
For older players with families, he points out, where you’re getting sent might be more of a factor. “But when you’re younger,” Onuoha continues, “then it’s about just trying to play football because you still have the belief that you can do something great. And if somebody wants to come in for you, giving you the pitch that you’re going to start, then you have two options: the people who tell you they want you, or the people who tell you they don’t.”
He says that while many clubs employ loans managers to help players decide where they would fit best, their work usually focuses on youngsters looking to kick on in first-team football after coming through the academy: “For the older ones, you’re essentially by yourself.”
Game time is the driver for most players who get loaned out, which is why buy-in from the manager they’ll be working with is critical in making these moves a success.
“Just like any signing, the manager is the most important person,” the recruitment source says, “because they have to believe in the player and they have to understand the player: who he is, what his strengths are, that he’ll fit into the formation.”
One Premier League manager or head coach who has shown his willingness to bet on players carrying baggage is Villa’s Unai Emery.
Under him, Villa took in Marcus Rashford on loan in January 2025 after his exile from Manchester United’s squad, Jadon Sancho for the 2025-26 season, also from the Old Trafford giants, and now Garnacho, who joins from Chelsea for the coming campaign with a conditional obligation to buy at the end of it.
Rather than being dissuaded by any clouds that hung over these players at past or parent clubs, according to sources with knowledge of Emery’s mindset, he views them as market opportunities that might otherwise be out of Villa’s reach financially and backs himself to get the best out of them. That managerial buy-in is crucial to ensuring a player’s loan actually yields more opportunities than staying where they were.
Garnacho is one of the high-profile players to have joined Villa on loan in recent seasons (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Not all loans are equal: in addition to ‘straight loans’, where the player returns to the parent club after a fixed period, some come with options or obligations (sometimes conditional) to buy. It could be that a player’s aim is to show his worth to his parent club, while their goal is to drum up interest in them for a more lucrative permanent exit. Onuoha underlines the “massive” importance of having clear expectations for what happens when a loan comes to an end.
“I thought I was taking a loan to come back and then be part of the plans going forward (at City), but it ended up being the exact opposite,” he says.
“I had a really good loan spell there (with Sunderland). We finished top 10 in the league, which was the goal at the start of the season at Sunderland, and I really enjoyed it.” However, he wanted to return to City and fight for a place at his boyhood club, and told their then manager Roberto Mancini as much.
“But then in the off-season, a couple of weeks before the season started, I was told that I had to find a new club permanently,” Onuoha says. “All of a sudden, that loan and the way it ended… it was very different to how I would then need to approach the start of the next season, because I was told that I was surplus to requirements long after the loan had finished.”
Onuoha made one substitute appearance in the league for City in the following 2011-12 season before signing in the January for Queens Park Rangers, where he went on to play for the next six years.
“If you want to go and have a spark somewhere, it can be good,” Onuoha says. “But then, when the loan is coming towards the end, it’s a case of, ‘Well, what next?’
“To have things up in the air as the (loan) season progresses means that you’re in an even weaker position, but instead of just being in a weak position at one club, you’re in a weak position at two.
“These careers are short, relatively speaking, so you need to try and find somewhere to play.
“But why should a club pick you? And if they do pick you on loan, why have they picked you on loan as opposed to a permanent transfer, for example? Can they afford to sign you? Is it one of those loans we’ve seen in years gone by, when this deal becomes automatic if he plays 26 games and all of a sudden, you get to 24, 25 (appearances) and everything slows down? Who’s the loan for? Is it for you or is it for them?
“As a player, when you realise the loan is for somebody else, that’s when it’s tricky. But when you know it’s a loan for you, this is the best situation for you to bring your spark back.”
>
Need help with today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle? You’ve come to the right place.
Welcome to Connections: Sports Edition Coach — a spot to gather clues and discuss (and share) scores.
A quick public service announcement before we continue: The bottom of this article includes the answers — and hints — for the four categories. So if you want to solve the board hint-free, we recommend you play before continuing.
You can access today’s game here. And when you’re done, try out our limited-edition Connections: Soccer Edition for an extra challenge.
Today’s difficulty
Game No. 703’s difficulty: 2 out of 5
Connections: Sports Edition hints for Aug. 27, 2026
Scroll below for one answer in each of the four categories.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Yellow: FOUL
Green: DEAL
Blue: BLAND
Purple: DEAD BALL
Connections: Sports Edition answers for Aug. 27, 2026
Scroll below for the full answers to each of the four categories.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Yellow
Transgression: FOUL, INFRACTION, PENALTY, VIOLATION
Green
Transaction: DEAL, EXCHANGE, TRADE, TRANSFER
Blue
Dallas Cowboys: BLAND, LAMB, OVERSHOWN, PRESCOTT
Purple
_____ era: DEAD BALL, NEW, OPEN, STEROID
What is Connections: Sports Edition?
Connections: Sports Edition is The Athletic’s first-ever game, a daily puzzle designed for players to find connections between 16 words on the game board.
The game’s objective is to group words or objects into four groups of four based on commonalities within each group as quickly as possible. Find the groups without making four mistakes. Each puzzle has exactly one solution, so watch out for words or items that seem to belong to multiple categories!
Category examples:
Sports ____ : Fan, Car, Bar, Radio
U.S. Summer Olympians: Biles, Phelps, Ledecky, Lyles
Each category group is assigned a color, revealed as you solve, ranging from straightforward (yellow) to medium (green) to challenging (blue) to tricky (purple).
Who creates the puzzles for Connections: Sports Edition?
That’s me! My name is Mark Cooper, and I create Connections: Sports Edition and work as a managing editor for college sports here at The Athletic. I was previously The Athletic’s managing editor for breaking news.
The next puzzle will be available at midnight in your time zone. Thanks for playing — and share your scores in the comments!
>
So much has happened over the past seven days, including marathon drama, the Dutch Grand Prix and the return of the Premier League.
About 11% of quizzers got full marks in last week’s edition. Will you make the grade this week?
After more quizzes? Go to our dedicated Football Quizzes and Sports Quizzes pages and sign up for notifications to get the latest quizzes sent straight to your device.
>
There were 907 days between Lewis Koumas’ first senior appearance for Liverpool and his second. But for the 20-year-old, it was worth the wait.
“This is the peak,” Koumas told Liverpoolfc.com, the club’s official website “It’s quite emotional, to be honest.”
Two and a half years ago, and just three days after Koumas, then aged 18, had watched from the bench at Wembley as some of his academy team-mates played their part in Liverpool’s 1-0 Carabao Cup final triumph over Chelsea, he had his own chance to make a mark in a fifth-round FA Cup tie at home to Southampton in February 2024.
Named in the starting XI on the left of the front three, he scored the opening goal of a 3-0 victory after 44 minutes — a clever strike from the edge of the box that nestled into the corner. He became the fourth-youngest player in the club’s history to score on his debut.
Fast forward to St James’ Park in Newcastle this past Sunday, and the desire to make an impact and help his team win matches has not changed.
Koumas embracing manager Jurgen Klopp after his Liverpool debut in 2024 (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
With Liverpool 2-1 down and searching for an equaliser, Andoni Iraola introduced the Welsh youngster with 13 minutes remaining. The instructions were simple: add energy, make runs in behind and try to make something happen.
Koumas may not have played a part in the winning of the penalty which led to the added-time equaliser and an away point, but he provided more of the drive and intensity that underpinned his pre-season. It is why there is a strong chance he remains a Liverpool player beyond the close of the transfer window next Tuesday night.
Pre-season offered youngsters an opportunity to stake a claim for starts, with Iraola new to the job and several senior players away on their post-World Cup breaks. Koumas returned after his summer holiday the week before the first-team players not involved in the World Cup did, alongside the rest of the under-21 squad.
Iraola was already present at the training ground and kept watch. Koumas continued to make an impression on his new boss when he took part in first-team training the following week. His fitness levels stood out, as did his application and work rate.
That translated into his performances on the pitch. Koumas scored the final goal in the 4-2 defeat of Sunderland in Nashville, and backed that up with another positive showing in the win against Wrexham in New York.
He was part of the second-half collapse against Leeds in the final fixture of the trip in Chicago, but the belief and trust Iraola has in him was evident when he was selected as part of a strong starting XI in the friendly against Monaco at Anfield a week later, when his performance contained everything but a goal.
Koumas’ versatility should also be a huge positive for Iraola and his coaching staff: he played in all of the front-four positions at varying points through pre-season, and came on as the No 10 against Newcastle.
He is, as many will be aware, the son of Jason Koumas, a talented forward who began his career in Liverpool’s academy before making over 300 league starts for Tranmere Rovers, West Bromwich Albion, Cardiff City and Wigan Athletic, as well as playing 34 times for Wales.
The now 20-year-old left Merseyside neighbours Tranmere’s academy to join Liverpool as an under-11. They had to fend off interest from Everton, Manchester United and others.
Koumas grew up watching the team he supports alongside his father — who the youngster said in an interview with Sky Sports in 2025 wasn’t too involved in the early stages of his career as he wanted him to “just have fun as a kid and make sure I was enjoying it” — as well as playing for them at youth levels. He has leaned on him for advice, given the career he had.
Lewis Koumas’ father Jason (right) playing for Tranmere against former club Liverpool in 2001 (Clive Brunskill/Allsport via Getty Images)
Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com after the weekend’s draw with Newcastle, Koumas credited his mother for the sacrifices she made, especially during the early days of his footballing career.
“It just takes me back to the very first moments, where it was my mum sacrificing absolutely everything to get me to any session I could be at,” Koumas said.
“I remember being at Crewe, being at Tranmere, and my mum was just doing everything. So ultimately, it’s her to thank for being able to put myself out there, and now we’ve reached this stage. It’s just a happy family moment, and I’m just really happy she could see it.”
Koumas progressed through the younger age groups at Liverpool, playing predominantly as an attacking midfielder.
Ahead of his first full season with the under-18s, as a 16-year-old, their head coach Marc Bridge-Wilkinson deployed him as a striker in the final two pre-season games because of a lack of alternatives. The experiment continued into the first game of that campaign proper, and Koumas scored four goals in a 6-2 win against Middlesbrough.
However, a season that started so positively was interrupted by an injury which kept him out for over three months. When he returned, he ended the campaign in sparkling form once more. Five goals and two assists in the final seven matches of the Under-18 Premier League meant he only failed to score or assist in two of his 13 league appearances.
After a handful of training sessions with the first team in the 2023-24 pre-season, he was named in a 32-man group which travelled to Germany for a training camp.
It was another impressive campaign for the now 12-time Wales international as he scored 16 goals and recorded six assists in 27 appearances across a variety of competitions at youth level.
The reward was a first-team debut against Southampton in the FA Cup, and at the end of the campaign, a first senior call-up for Wales. He made his debut off the bench in a friendly away to Gibraltar in June 2024.
There was plenty of interest in taking Koumas on loan that summer, with regular first-team football key to the next stages of his development. Championship side Stoke City stood out. There was an impressive pitch from sporting director Jonathan Walters, who had done his research on Koumas.
It proved far from the ideal environment for a young player experiencing their first loan, however, with manager Steven Schumacher sacked after only five league games and replaced with Narcis Pelach.
That can sometimes push loan players out to the fringes as the new head coach assesses the squad he’s inherited, but Koumas adapted to Pelach’s more possession-based approach quickly and became a fan favourite.
He hit the headlines for an acrobatic goal against Bristol City in the October, but it was his all-round game that impressed the coaching staff. Work was done on timing runs in behind defences, and he was able to integrate into the dressing room and was part of a group of players who stayed in Stoke on a Friday evening before home games the following afternoon and went out for a meal together.
Koumas scoring for Stoke against Bristol City in October 2024 (Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
Koumas had another manager to impress when Mark Robins was appointed on January 1, replacing the short-lived Pelach, who had been dismissed five days earlier. He was still playing regularly, but he did not start as many games in the second half of the season. Still, he finished with 49 appearances (starting 31) and almost 3,000 minutes of game time (the equivalent of almost 32 full matches) in all competitions, six goals and three assists.
Last season was an opportunity to build on that, and he joined promoted Birmingham City, again in the Championship, late in the summer. Koumas started three of the first four league games after his arrival — he was substituted after 44 minutes in the third one due to team-mate Jack Robinson’s red card — but would be in the XI for only one of the next 18.
Manager Chris Davies did use him regularly from the bench in that time, but entering January, sources with knowledge of the situation, speaking under the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, told The Athletic that discussions began to take place about his future. Ironically, he started the final three games of his stay, scoring in a 3-2 win against title-bound Coventry City, before what was initially a season-long loan got cut short.
Several Championship clubs were interested, but one of the surprise packages of the season, Hull City, proved to be his next destination. His impact was immediate.
Joining a side in the thick of play-offs contention, Koumas made his debut from the bench against Blackburn Rovers on January 31 and within four minutes had netted the winner.
Why Liverpool struggled against Newcastle
Jon Mackenzie
Coming in and earning a starting spot in a team already doing well was always going to be difficult, and with the exception of a run of four starts in five games between the end of February and mid-March, he was again a regular contributor as a substitute. Hull secured a play-off place on the final day of the season and then promotion; as with that Carabao Cup final against Chelsea two years earlier, Koumas was an unused replacement in a 1-0 Wembley win, this time over Middlesbrough.
All three loans have taught him plenty, and he is using the experience gained to make his mark in a Liverpool shirt.
He will be hoping the time between his second and third appearances is nowhere near as long as the wait to play again after his debut.
>
Connections: Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for Aug. 27, 2026, puzzle No. 703
Nvidia closes in on Hugging Face acquisition
BBC Sport weekly quiz: What was wrong with the Sydney Marathon medals?
-
movies3 months agoSearch For Canadian TV Actor Stewart McLean Now Homicide Investigation
-
Fashion9 years agoThese ’90s fashion trends are making a comeback in 2017
-
Fashion9 years ago
According to Dior Couture, this taboo fashion accessory is back
-
Fashion9 years ago
Model Jocelyn Chew’s Instagram is the best vacation you’ve ever had
-
Fashion9 years ago
Emily Ratajkowski channels back-to-school style
-
Fashion9 years ago
9 Celebrities who have spoken out about being photoshopped
-
Fashion9 years ago
Your comprehensive guide to this fall’s biggest trends
-
Anime3 months agoRurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc Manga Takes 1-Issue Break – News