Opinion: Should loan moves stop altogether?

With the emergency loan window now open, I have decided to spark up a little bit of a debate on whether or not loan moves should be allowed or whether they should be stopped altogether.

Speaking to a fan at the Bristol City game on Saturday, who wishes to remain anonymous, he stuck an idea in my head about the loan system, especially Premier League and Championship loans.

He asked me what I thought about loan moves and I have decided to share my opinions with you, like I did with him on Saturday.

For me, loan moves have their perks but they also have their significant draw backs.

To begin with, one of the positives that can come out of a loan move is that a player can come in, for example from a Premier League side, and drastically change the way a lower league team is playing.

Look at Emyr Huws as a great example of my previous point. When he came into Blues, his dynamic approach in the centre of midfield completely changed the way we played under Lee Clark.

Before he came in, we had very little to offer in midfield but his range of passing, his ability to shoot from distance and his willingness to get stuck in gave us something extra which we didn’t have before.

However, one of the many negatives that can come from a loan move is the fact that a player can sometimes have a recall clause in their deal.

Take a look back at the 2013/2014 season when Blues had to take a great handful of players from the likes of Manchester United and the odd one from here or there.

We had the likes of Kyle Bartley and Dan Burn on loan for the season, supposedly! Only for us to get half way through the season and the pair to get recalled.

This meant that the togetherness of the squad was jeopardised and we lost some of the momentum that we had, even though there wasn’t a lot of it in the first place.

Bigger teams having the ability to bring players back from smaller clubs and not giving them enough time to find a replacement shows just how cruel football can be and is just one of the reasons why I think loan moves shouldn’t be allowed.

Despite me somewhat agreeing with the fan I spoke to, I also believe that the loan window is a thing of beauty at times.

Take a look at Real Madrid last year. Although it wasn’t in the loan window, but in the main transfer window, they took Javier Hernandez on loan for the season from Manchester United.

During his time with the Spanish giants he scored seven times in 23 appearances, most of which came as a substitute.

For me, the deal that took Hernandez to Madrid was one of the best pieces of business during that window and it just shows that if the right move comes about, anything can happen.

However, one of the major factors which I think will cause loan dealings to eventually shut down is the amount of money that clubs are willing to pay to bring a player in.

This argument was a hot topic when I was in discussion on Saturday. I couldn’t have said it better myself when I was told that loan moves are getting far to expensive for clubs like Birmingham City to be able to challenge other sides for top players.

Looking at the likes of Reading in the Championship and Manchester United in the Premier League. Last season, Man United paid a stupid amount to bring Radamel Falcao in and his move just flopped.

The money that they spent on him would have most probably been spent more wisely by another lower league side. Spending upwards of £10 million on a loan player is just silly and can easily kill off any other moves by other teams for the same player.

Elsewhere, Reading paid Premier League new boys Watford £2.2 million for the loan of Matej Vydra on the last day of the transfer window.

That amount of money just doesn’t appear out of nowhere and for a side like Blues who are struggling to spend £500,000 on one player, £2.2 million must seem like a fortune.

To conclude on my discussion, I would like to know what you make of loan moves! Do you agree with my positives and negatives that I have highlighted? Please let us know down in the comment section down below!