Joking ?
When was the last time we sent someone on loan for the actual reason of him developing as a player rather than hoping said loaned guy has decent performances so we can get more money for him ?
All the players we've loaned were random average players , there's different expectations for this guy.
He doesn't seem mature enough to me , or ambitious enough. What's ambitious about a guy who is afraid to leave his confort zone and who'd rather play in the 2nd division with low tier players ?
By 2021 he'll be what ? 22 ? Imagine having any expectations from a guy who untill 22 years played in 2nd divisions.
He has lots of talent but he's throwing it in the dumpster by being so comfortable.
If u expect him to be a first team player who gets time only if someone gets injured or to play some random low copa games , fair enough. I was just hoping he'll be a really good first team player , be it as a first sub or starter.
Exactly.
If we go through our loan history in last 10 years:
10/11:
- Henrique - after having a good 2009/10 season on loan at Bayer Leverkusen before getting injured we loaned him to Racing Santander to adapt to La Liga. He played over 3.000 minutes in La Liga and was quite ok, but just never good enough to come back so then he went back to Brazil. Hard to blame unsuccesfull loan(s) for this though.
- Keirrison - after spending previous season at Benfica and Fiorentina he was loaned back to Palmeiras. He was never good enough in first place and also injury prone so again loaning him or not didn't negatively influenced on his career.
- Ibra (loaned to Milan with buy option), Caceres (he still played over 3.000 total minutes at Sevilla) and Hleb were loaned out because we didn't want them.
11/12:
- Hleb, Keirrison and Henrique on loans that season - none of them had any future at the club
12/13:
- Andreu Fontas - he was our 5th CB at that point with Puyi, Masche, Pique and Bartra ahead of him. Only played 9 games for Mallorca but he was 23 at that point so he didn't have a first team future.
- Isaac Cuenca - after having some success in 2011/12 season in our first team he suffered a knee injury. We send him on loan to Ajax in January 2013 but he never really recovered from his injuries.
- Affelay - started well at Schalke before getting injured. After recovering 18 months he then went on loan to Olympiacos until his contract expired. Again as in Cuenca's case we can't blame loan spells for how his career went.
13/14
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Deulofeu - after scoring 18 goals in Segunda a year before he went on loan to Everton where he only played around 1.000 minutes. Loaning him made sense as we've had Messi, Pedro, Neymar, Alexis and Tello ahead of him so he wouldn't play much but would probably be better to loan him to a mid/bottom table La Liga team where he would play more. Still don't believe this would have affect on his longterm future at Barça as he's just not good enough.
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Rafinha - 4 goals and 7 assists in 32 games under Lucho at Celta, clearly a successfull loan
- Bojan - after spending previous two seasons in Italy we brought him back from Roma and send him on loan to Ajax to recuperate his value and sell him for profit. Didn't work out but his future at the club was already done in 2011 when we first sold him.
14/15
- Alex Song - loaned to West Ham because we wanted to get rid off him. He played over 2.000 minutes in the EPL but we just prolonged his loan for another season instead of selling him.
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Denis Suarez - after having a great season in Barça B we sold him (with a buy-back) to Sevilla as a part of the Rakitić deal. He had mixed results in Sevilla but still played over 2.000 total minutes that season.
- Deulofeu - also on loan at Sevilla where he played even less than Denis. But as said above I don't think he had any first team future at the club regardless of how he'd do on loan. We sold him to Everton in 2015.
- Tello - his minutes declined in 2013/14 with arrival of Neymar so we sent him to Porto. He got injured at the end of the season but still managed 7 goals and 8 assists. So loan didn't hurt him but his future at Barça was done with MSN anead of him.
15/16
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D. Suarez - sold with buy-back to Villarreal where he had a great season which convinced us to bring him back
- Tello - his minutes at Porto diminished so we sent him to Fiorentina in January 2016 where he did well. But as said above he didn't have a future at the club at that point anymore.
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Halilović - after a so-so season at Barça B he was sent on loan to Sporting Gijon to get some La Liga experience. He started well but was mostly coming off the bench later in the season. Anyway, he don't have what it takes to succeed (especially brains) in even a midtable La Liga club let alone Barça so whatever we would do it wouldn't matter longterm. Still, a loan at Gijon wasn't a bad move for him at that time.
- Montoya - bad loan to Inter where he only played 3 games then to Betis where he was a starter for most of the second half of the season. He was 24 at that time so it was already too late for him. I've said this before and I still think he should've been loaned out when he was 20-21 to get First division experience as it was clear he wouldn't get minutes while we still had Alves. He was never good enough to stay here longterm but it would improve his odds to have a better career by not playing in Segunda (B) or sitting on the bench in his early twenties.
16/17
-Munir - on loan at Valencia as part of the Alcacer deal. 6 goals in over 2.000 league minutes. Not a bad thing for his career imo.
- Samper - started well at Granada but then got benched in last part of the season. I know people had high hope for him but he's just not good enough, if he would be he would play at least in some solid La Liga club right now and not in Japan.
- Vermaelen - loaned to Roma (of course he was injured most of the season) to get rid off him
- Lord Douglas - don't even have to talk about him
17/18
- Rafinha - after recovering from injury he was sent on loan to Inter where he did well. Still not good enough for them to buy him.
- Deulofeu - on loan to Watford in January 2018. Even with some injury problems he did enough we managed to sell him after his loan finished.
- Munir - another successfull loan at Alaves where he scored 10 goals. Our mistake was not to capitalise on that good season and sell him then.
- Marlon - did well at Nice which helped us to eventually sell him to Sassuolo which was the club's plan all the way.
- Samper - injuries ruined his season at Las Palmas
- Arda - loaned to get rid off his wage
18/19
- Paulinho, Paco, Gomes - all loaned with buy option/intention to sell which we managed to do
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Cucurella - did well at Eibar though not playing as a LB so we could see how he'd do defensively in La Liga
- D. Suarez - a loan to Arsenal in January didn't work out as we hoped to increase his value but eventually we still managed to sell him for solid money.
- Palencia - did well enough at Bordeaux they decided to buy him. He didn't have a future at Barça so loan worked well for us.
- Cardona - had some solid games at Eibar. They didn't execute his buy option but we sold him to Osasuna for around the same money. Again, a player with no first team future.
- Douglas - actually had a solid season at Sivasspor but his contract expired so we couldn't get at least something for him.
19/20
- Coutinho - we know why he was loaned to Bayern, we'll see how this will turn out
- Rafinha - on loan at Celta, again struggling with injuries; hopefully he'll show enough when healthy they'll decide to buy him.
- Cucu - doing well at Getafe but again mostly not playing as a LB
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Miranda - looks like a failed loan to S04 so far
- Oriol B. - playing regularly for Twente (as a CB in recent games). Don't think he has first team future so maybe this loan will help us to get more for him next summer.
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Emerson - not exactly a loan but we have the rights to bring him back which we'll probably do so I'll include him. He's developing well at Betis so far.
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Pedri: - not officially our player yet this season but developing well at Las Palmas
It's true not every loan has worked out well but in general I don't think our loans were actually as bad as most people think. They usually helped us to get rid off unwanted players's wages and eventually sell them. Not always for a lot but still better than if they'd stay here sitting on the stands.
I've bolded the players above who I think were loaned with an intention for them to develop and maybe return to the club one day (and some of them did get a 2nd chance).
1., 2.) Rafinha and Deulofeu in 2013 - they've both had multiple chances at the club and didn't show enough but I think loans had positive effect on them, especially Rafinha. Sadly injuries later ruined his career.
3.) Denis Suarez - he came back from his Sevilla and especially Villarreal spell as a better player but still not good enough.
4.) Halilović - I believe the club had high expectations for him at that point but it was his own fault he failed. No club/coach in the world can help you to improve when you don't want/are too stupid to do that. I know this is harsh but true.
5.) Cucu - Barça probably still thought he could be Alba's backup but while he played a lot he didn't play as a LB last season at all. The same this season. Maybe a loan to different club(s) would help him improve in a way better suited for us but still can't say his loans were/are bad for his own development. It's probably safe to say he doesn't have a future at Barça but he could still have a very solid career elsewhere.
6.) Miranda - similar than Cucu probably not good enough to be our future LB but could maybe be a backup. We'll need to make a decision about him in next month if his status at Schalke won't change.
So I don't believe any of those players except Miranda has been negatively affected by loans and some of them have actually improved while away. They didn't/won't make it at Barça for other reasons, mainly because they were/are not good enough. Staying at Barça or loaning them to other clubs wouldn't change that fact.
And then we have Emerson and Pedri who are developing well so far and we'll have to wait and see how they'll do in future. They should also be a guide to the likes of Puig that not all loans will turn out bad. I don't think we should look too much in the past and generalise our "failed" loans so much as every player should be considered individually. Club can help the players but in the end what they do in depends mostly on them.
But if we'll decide to loan Riqui (and maybe someone like Illaix in a season or two) then we should do two things imo.
1. Loan him early in the transfer window - in June or July and not at the end of August - this way we would know that a club who would get him sees him as one of their priorities and not their 5-6th target they'll settle for because they couldn't get highly rated players on their wishlist.
2. Loan him to a club with stability at a coaching position. Obviously things can change quickly in football but if he'll go to a club who has kept his manager for 1 or 2 seasons (there are rare coaches at mid/bottom table clubs who last longer) it's less likely they'll make 2-3 coaching changes during one season which could negatively affect a player. So newly promoted clubs who want to keep their core from a promotion side and add them a few players who could make a difference (and improve squad depth) at next level could be a good choice. Basically all of Granada, Malorca and Osasuna have done the same this year and it's working so far. On the other hand we should avoid to send him on loan to clubs who will try to build a new team over the summer and bring 10 or 15 new players, especially if they are mostly also young inexperienced players on loan from other big clubs (like Granada in Samper's case) because you know those clubs don't have clear plans about what they want.
I don't think club's playing style is as important as getting enough top level playing time at this point of their careers but of course it would be also good and easier (especially for La Masia kids) to adapt if their loanee club would play a possesion based football. But sometimes our kids need to get out of their comfort zone and try different things to maybe come back as better players.
