Loan Watch: 1st February 2015
City’s loanees have had a big week, with the Bundesliga returning to action, and with a number of young players also heading out on loan either for the rest of the season, or for much longer periods of time.
We start off in the Bundesliga with Schalke, the team which Matija Nastasić recently joined on loan for the rest of the season. They were back in action for the first time after the German winter break, with their new Serbian defender starting in defence. Nastasić played the full game for Schalke as they beat Hannover 96 1-0 at the VELTINS-Arena, with Marco Hoger scoring the Schalke goal.
Next, we go to Blackburn where Seko Fofana and Fulham were the visitors on Saturday in the Championship. The Frenchman was dropped to the bench, and only came on for the final 7 minutes of the game, as The Cottagers fell to a 2-1 loss against Blackburn Rovers.
MK Dons were also in the north-west on Saturday to face Crewe in League One. Devante Cole made his starting debut for the Dons after signing for them on loan earlier in the week, and scored a brace in the first half before being taken off on 65 minutes. MK Dons eventually triumphed 5-0 against Crewe, who are dropping closer and closer to relegation.
In Italy, Micah Richards once again missed out on a place in the starting lineup for Fiorentina as they visited Genoa. However, he did come off the bench on 83 minutes as La Viola got a 1-1 draw in Serie A.
In Holland, Karim Rekik once again played the full game for PSV Eindhoven, as they hosted Willhelm II in the Eredivisie. PSV earned a 2-1 win against their visitors, with Jurgen Locadia and Memphis Depay scoring the PSV goals.
There were a lot less City loanees playing their games on Sunday, with Jason Denayer, John Guidetti and Scott Sinclair being the only ones in action. He started for Celtic in defence as they played their fierce rivals Rangers for the first time since 2012, in the League Cup Semi-Final. The Hoops got a 2-0 win with Denayer playing 90 minutes and Guidetti playing 25 as a substitute, and they’ll now have a shot at winning the League Cup in the final at Hampden Park against Dundee United in 6 weeks’ time.
Scott Sinclair – newly-signed for Aston Villa – also made his debut on Sunday, as he played 25 minutes of Villa’s 5-0 loss against Arsenal at The Emirates.
As the January transfer window drew to a close, there were also a number of players leaving the club on loan as well as Scott Sinclair. George Evans left the club for the rest of the season after he impressed the club enough to earn some time away, and he will be with Scunthorpe United until June. Bruno Zuculini also made another loan move, as he left Valencia to join Cordoba for the rest of the season – let’s hope this move is a bit more successful than the last. City also sent two players out for prolonged periods of time – Chidibere Nwakali has joined Malaga on loan until June 2017, whilst Divine Naah has been loaned to NAC Breda until June 2016.
In a non-loan related bit of news, the Ivory Coast are through to the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations after a 3-1 win against Algeria in which Bony and Yaya both featured. Bony managed to score two goals, with one of them assisted by Yaya, before being taken off right before the end. Yaya played the full game. Their semi-final will be played in midweek.