Arsenal currently have ten players out on loan at various clubs, but which of them, if any, will be able to make an impact in the first-team next season?
Firstly, there are three senior players currently out on temporary transfer.
Carl Jenkinson is spending the season with West Ham United, where he has been a regular at right-back for Sam Allardyce’s high-flying team. The England U21 international has earned rave reviews for his attacking forays, with his crosses a particularly useful weapon. However, when put under pressure, he has shown that he is still somewhat vulnerable defensively.
With Mathieu Debuchy, Calum Chambers and Hector Bellerin all at the club, Jenkinson’s Arsenal future remains rather uncertain, but he will certainly benefit from the regular game time he is receiving at West Ham.
Ryo Miyaichi, meanwhile, can be described as something of a forgotten figure, with injuries and a series of inconsistent performances threatening to beset his progress. He currently finds himself back in Holland, where he once caught the eye on loan at Feyenoord. Now with Twente, the Japanese international is just starting to regain his confidence and has done well so far this season. How he will manage to fit in at Arsenal in the long-term is difficult to envisage, but he did sign a contract extension shortly before going on loan.
The other member of the first-team currently out on loan is Francis Coquelin, who is with Charlton Athletic. The Frenchman, who spent last season with Freiburg, has made two substitute appearances for the Championship side and could see his loan deal extended by a further month. His days at Arsenal appear to be numbered, though, and he is set to be released at the end of the season.
Moving on to the younger players and Benik Afobe has hit the headlines with his tremendous strike rate for MK Dons. Having struggled to fully impose himself during many of his previous loan spells, Afobe is now proving his worth, with the striker having scored 15 goals in 20 appearances for the League One side. Like Ryo, he put pen to paper on a new Arsenal deal before going on loan, but the signing of Danny Welbeck, a player only a few years older than him, raised further questions about Afobe’s chances of making the grade at the club.
Another prominent loanee is Wellington, who is experiencing yet another Spanish loan spell, this time with Almeria in La Liga, for whom he has done well. Building upon a good end to the season with Real Murcia last year, Wellington has started to deliver some more consistent performances of late and was rewarded with a call-up to the Brazilian U21 side. With his work permit problem finally resolved, he is free to represent the Arsenal first-team from next season, although the fate of Joel Campbell so far this campaign should serve as a warning to Wellington that game time will not necessarily be a guarantee in North London.
Spanish midfielder Jon Toral has endured his fair share of injury problems as an Arsenal player, but he has benefitted greatly so far from his loan stint with Championship side Brentford. Used mainly as a substitute early in the season, Toral has worked his way into the starting line-up in recent weeks and has also demonstrated his goalscoring ability. A fine talent, but he will find it difficult to persevere at Arsenal with the likes of Gedion Zelalem and Dan Crowley in his way.
Kristoffer Olsson, a player with fleeting first-team experience for Arsenal, surprised many on the final day of the transfer window by joining Danish side Midtjylland on loan until January with a view to a permanent move thereafter. A player who has frequently stated his desire for first-team action, Olsson barely featured for his new club in the first couple of months of the season, but has become increasingly involved in recent weeks. Such is his impatience, it seems unlikely he will stay around at Arsenal beyond next summer if he isn’t promoted to the first-team squad.
Another technically-talented central-midfielder, Jack Jebb, is currently on a short-term loan at League Two Stevenage. The erstwhile England youth international made a couple of impressive cameo appearances shortly after signing before suffering an injury. He is back now, though, and featured in the surprise FA Cup exit at the hands of Maidstone United last night.
Goalkeeper Josh Vickers will spend the next few weeks at least with non-league Concord Rangers. It appears unlikely that the talented shot-stopping who spent much of last season with Canvey Island, will be able to overtake Ryan Huddart in the goalkeeping hierarchy at Arsenal.
Finally, striker Austin Lipman is set to spend the entire campaign with Boreham Wood, for whom he played several times last season. The Hale End product is a useful asset in the Conference South and he is capable of playing at a higher level, but his Arsenal deal is up at the end of the season.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
Realistically I can’t see any of these players making the cut at arsenal. Hopefully jenkinson can break into the team next season, though.
Not to worry though. I think we have a brilliant set of players coming up over the next few years, zelalem, Crowley, and all of those guys with quadruple barrel names who I can’t pronounce!..
Jenkinson’s still better than Chambers… Although I understand the loan.
Also was hopeful for Afobe to get some good Arsenal game time in the future, but we really are striker-heavy at the moment
There’s a couple players there that can still make the team Jenko for sure has a future here chambers his not as good as him at rb he doesn’t have the speed to keep up with wingers… Miyaichi gas got a lot to offer and wellington is a mercurial talent don’t sleep on these three guys I think Toral is a great talent but there’s too much in the middle of the park at arsenal unless he can develop as a CDM I don’t see him in a arsenal shirt in the future but never say never… And afobe certainly… Read more »
Deffo a chance for Wellington. Seen him a few times this season and he’s come on leaps and bounds. He’s also a genuine left winger, and no doubt in time Poldi and Santi will be gone leaving space on the left.
It’s the right that has the most competition.
I think Jenks still has a good shot. Debuchy’s 29, Chambers will become either a midfielder or a CB and Bellerin isn’t exactly fully developed yet. If Jenks can absorb Fat Sam’s defensive teachings then he could well compete for RB upon returning. As for Afobe, most top teams seem to have about 3 options at striker, and we’ve only got 2 proven ones. Alexis and Walcott haven’t shown that they can play as a lone 9, so I’d say it’s a toss up between Akpom, Afobe and Sanogo for the third spot. If Sanogo were to go on loan… Read more »
Realistically I think it’s a straight competition between Cambpell and Sanogo for that last spot. Akpom is still 2 years younger than Sanogo.
Kristoffer Olsson at 19 is getting frustrated at the lack of opportunities? You have to be either Bendtner (overconfident) or extremely talented to believe you should be getting more first team game time in our midfield.
Fair enough that he wants to play, but not a lot of 19 year old kids gets the chance to learn from players like Alexis, Özil and Welsh Jesus. He should keep that in mind.
Too bad he wants out, he seemed like a good player the few times I’ve seen him play.
Next season, I’d rather sanogo went on loan to a pl club and Afobe got a chance with us.
Giroud, welbeck, Afobe and Akpom for that central striker spot (not necessarily in order).
I want Carl back for good.
What happened to Francis Coquelin? He was promising a few years back
Well obviously whatever he was promising Wenger wasn’t enough to tickle his trousers.
Or Freiburg’s for that matter.
A few years back the talent pool was a bit shallower.
How do you like me now? – Coq
Jenkinson is better than Bellerin there’s no question , Spaniard need 3-4 years to gain Jenko’s level…. Chambers is very nice player but no as good as Jenko and Debuchy is almost 30 so I still see Jenko as our 1st choice RB for coming 10 years…. oooo and he’s the realest gooner in current team….
……
i will never understand why wenger let jenko go on loan if he wasn’t going to sign another defender.
He could’ve kept jenko and made chambers 3rd choice cb. We wouldn’t have this defensive crisis that we’re currently experiencing.
Obviously his plan was to sign another defender. It just didn’t quite work out.
Even if AW doesn’t think Jenkinson is a good enough defender I think he has similar qualities to Parlour and should be used right of midfield. He is the best crosser of the ball we have and has endless energy. I don’t think you can put a value on having true arsenal fans in the dressing room.
The question is whether he wants a bit-part role or not. I’m sure Arsenal would be willing to keep him on as a 10 games a season sort of player at a commensurate salary but the question is does he want that or not?
I hope he proves us all wrong and ends up in the first team in a real way but if not I think it’s really up to him whether that’s enough or not.
Our problem is that we have plenty of the young guys and nobody comes out as a clear world-class player. Two or three years ago. we could have labeled Jack world-class but now he is back in a grey zone.
I thought hospitals were more of a white zone