It was a low-key weekend for Liverpool’s loaned players, with several European leagues not yet up and running after the winter break.
The majority of the Reds’ players out on temporary deals will not return to action until next weekend—while a handful of others missed out on Premier League and Championship action this past weekend.
Harry Wilson sat out on Derby County’s 2-0 loss against league leaders Leeds United, suffering with a hip injury which has seen him miss the last two fixtures.
He’s also likely to be sidelined for the Rams’ FA Cup third round replay against Southampton, which is on Wednesday evening.
Danny Ings, meanwhile, was injured for Southampton‘s win over Leicester—but boss Ralph Hasenhuttl hopes he’ll return for the weekend visit of Everton.
Clyne switch already proving beneficial
Nathaniel Clyne‘s loan switch to Bournemouth has provided plenty of debate over the past week, but the fact is that with his 90-minute outing at the weekend, he’s already made more starts for the Cherries this term than for the Reds.
The right-back played the full 90 minutes on Sunday as Bournemouth went down 2-0 at Everton, with Clyne a solid performer throughout.
Wearing No. 23 for his new club, Clyne was certainly involved with regularity; he made more tackles (4) than any other Bournemouth player and had the fourth-highest pass success (75 per cent) rate for his team.
Having also started the FA Cup loss to Brighton, that’s two straight 90-minute outings for the defender, who only started a single time for Jurgen Klopp‘s side this season—the win over Man United.
Meanwhile, Rafa Camacho has made his Liverpool senior debut and defensive options are gradually beginning to become available to the manager again.
It’s early days, but his move appears to have been vindicated on all sides.
Kane involved in League One thriller
Herbie Kane has been a standout among the Reds’ loan players this season and he managed another 90 minutes on the pitch for Doncaster this weekend.
Unfortunately it wasn’t especially an outing to remember, as Kane and Co. suffered a 3-2 defeat at Wycombe in League One—despite leading 2-0 with just 14 minutes left on the clock.
The best moment of the match for the young midfielder came as he lashed in an acrobatic volley from outside the box, but it was comfortably saved.
At the other end of the pitch, he’ll perhaps think he could have done more to close down the move which eventually led to the late equaliser, before a stoppage-time winner completed a remarkable collapse from Rovers.
Kane was also booked near the end of the match, just a couple of minutes after he was himself on the receiving end of a heavy foul which resulted in two players being carded for the ensuing melee.
Meanwhile in the Championship, Ovie Ejaria made his Reading debut against Nottingham Forest.
Playing from the left of the attacking midfield line, Ejaria played 75 minutes of the 2-0 win, getting a couple of shots away in the process.
Having ended his loan at Rangers early, he’ll hope for better fortunes and being able to settle now that he’s back in the English second tier, where he spent part of last year with Sunderland.
Ejaria could next be in action against Wilson’s Derby side when the two meet at the weekend.
Winter break
The rest of the Reds’ contingent still have a few more days to go before they can get back to action—if fit and selected, which wasn’t the case for all of them just prior to the break.
Marko Grujic (Hertha) and Allan Rodrigues (Eintracht Frankfurt) see the Bundesliga resume this coming weekend, while Ligue 1 does similar, meaning Sheyi Ojo (Reims) will be hoping for increased game time.
In Belgium’s Jupiler League, Anderson Arroyo continues at KAA Gent, with the U21 side, but striker Taiwo Awoniyi has switched to Royal Excel Mouscron after falling out of favour at Gent in the first half of the season.
Two goalkeepers out in European leagues are Loris Karius, at Besiktas, and Kamil Grabara, at AGF Aarhus.
Karius’ side get underway on Friday night, but AGF do not resume Superliga activities until February 8. Before then, Grabara could be involved in friendly matches and the Atlantic Cup, with his side facing Jablonec of the Czech Republic and Rosenborg of Norway.
Finally, up in Scotland, Ryan Kent (Rangers) and Adam Bogdan (Hibs) will resume domestic duties this weekend in the Scottish FA Cup, with the Scottish Premiership getting back underway the following midweek.
Meanwhile, a handful of youngsters have returned to Liverpool after the end of their loan deals—some prematurely.
Ben Woodburn saw his Sheffield United switch ended early and he is expected to move back out elsewhere soon, with other Championship clubs interested in his services.
Shamal George has finished his loan at Tranmere, playing three cup games, while Corey Whelan is back after playing 18 games with Crewe.
Connor Randall is also back, having suffered a loan-ending injury in September, Neil Critchley has said Randall “needs a run of games now and we’ll see where he goes in the next half of the season.”
Doubtless there will be interest in one or two other U23 starlets at the club before the January transfer window shuts.
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