Football fans are naming player loan spells most people would have forgotten about

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By Rob Swan

Published Mar 17, 2020

Footballer loan spells that you forgot all about

Many footballers who broke through at top clubs spent time at other teams - often in lower leagues or abroad - early in their careers in order to gain some invaluable experience.For every young player, getting a game is the most important thing. It doesn’t matter where - just as long as you’re getting minutes in a competitive environment.Loan spells can often be the making of players. They provide youngsters with the platform to prove to their parent clubs that they’re ready for first-team football.However, because loan spells are invariably short, it’s easy to forget that some high-profile players spent time at various random clubs earlier in their careers.We all know that David Beckham played on loan at Preston North End - but there are many other loans that aren’t as famous.

Copa90 started a thread on Twitter this week asking football fans to name loan spells people probably would have forgotten about - and there are some great shouts.

Copa90 begin by naming Ashley Cole at Crystal Palace.

The left-back spent time with the Eagles in 2000, playing 14 games and scoring one goal before returning to Arsenal.

In the same year, Cole’s future England teammate Peter Crouch was playing on loan at Swedish side IFK Hässleholm from Tottenham.

And Chelsea hero John Terry, who went on to play with both Cole and Crouch, also had a spell on loan in 2000, playing six games for Nottingham Forest.

Michael Carrick - who also played with the aforementioned trio at international level - *also* was out on loan in 2000, playing for Birmingham City following a previous spell with Swindon Town the previous year.

A few years later, in 2003, current Liverpool star James Milner scored two goals in six games while on loan at Swindon Town.

Talking about Liverpool, remember when the Reds signed Steven Caulker on loan from Queens Park Rangers in 2016 and used him an emergency striker? That was weird.

Perhaps even stranger is knowing that ‘Sir’ Les Ferdinand spent time on loan at Besiktas on loan from QPR in the late 80s.

Around the same time, another legendary Premier League striker, Teddy Sheringham, was on loan at Djurgardens IF in Sweden.

Back to more recent times and did you know that Manchester United's Jesse Lingard scored four goals in one game while on loan at Brighton in 2013?