Ten Years of Loans in the Big-5 European Leagues (2009-2019)

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CIES Football Observatory Monthly Report n°48 - October 2019

Ten years of loans in the big-5 European leagues (2009-2019)

Drs Raffaele Poli, Loïc Ravenel and Roger Besson

1. Introduction

A long-standing tradition in professional football, the loan of players fulfils different func- tions. The recourse to this strategy notably allows lending clubs to obtain experience for their young talents, most often with teams that are less financially well off, whilst keeping full control over transfer rights. From this point of view, the loan follows a logic that is both sporting and economic. This Monthly Report analyses the evolution of the number and characteristics of footballers having played on loan for teams of the five major European championships (English Premier League, Spanish Liga, Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga and the French Ligue 1) over a ten season period between 2009/10 and 2018/19.

1 Monthly Report 48 - Ten years of loans in the big-5 European leagues (2009-2019)

2. How many loans? Figure 1: players on loan by club, big-5 leagues

eason layers on loan per club % of minutes

During the decade studied, the number of 200910 20 91 players on loan within clubs taking part in the 201011 2 8 five major European leagues has grown con- siderably. An increase of 18% was recorded 201112 2 9 between the first and last five seasons- ana 20121 282 91

lysed: from 2.62 to 3.09 per club on average. In 20114 299 9

2018/2019, footballers on loan played a record 20141 1 111 number of minutes within the big-5: 11.5%. 2011 0 92

This evolution is notably explained by the ten- 2011 29 109

dency of wealthier teams to put under con- 20118 02 112 tract an increasing number of footballers with 201819 12 11 a sufficient sporting level to play in the major European leagues. This puts other clubs in a verae 28 100 greater state of dependency when making up their squads, by increasing their likelihood to take players on loan. Figure 2: players on loan by club, by league (2009/10-2018/19) The use of player loans varies widely according to league. The Serie A teams are by far those eason layers on loan per club % of minutes having the most players on loan: on average Sere 48 129

of 4.87 per club and season during the dec- a 8 14 ade studied. Teams from the Spanish Liga are e 1 200 8 also strongly inclined to resort to loans (3.85), while their counterparts from the remaining reer eae 1 4 three major European leagues are far less so. nesla 19 Between 2009/10 and 2018/19, footballers on - 28 100 loan only played 6.3% of minutes in the Bun- desliga, compared to 14.5% in the Liga.

2 Monthly Report 48 - Ten years of loans in the big-5 European leagues (2009-2019)

All the big-5 league teams having taken the Figure 3: maximum number of players on loan, biggest contingent of players on loan per sea- by club, big-5 leagues (2009/10-2018/19) son were Spanish or Italian. These are mainly Clubs (season) oans % of minutes anking clubs with limited financial resources. Most of releaton the time, the heavy reliance on loans did not 1 ranaa 2011 19 1 2020 bring the expected results (10 relegations in 18 2 Carp 2011 18 281 1820 releaton

cases, best ranking for Genoa in 2014/15, 6th). esca 201819 14 12 1920 releaton

releaton In the three other leagues of the big-5, the re- 4 enevento 20118 14 41 2020 cord number of players on loan by club and Frosnone 201819 14 40 1920 releaton

season was 8 in the French League 1 (Arles eans 2011 14 120

in 2010/2011 and Bastia in 2014/15), 7 in the Cesena 201011 14 2 120 German Bundesliga (Eintracht Frankfurt in 8 Croba 20141 1 12 2020 releaton 2018/19) and only 6 in the English Premier League (Portsmouth in 2009/10, Hull City in eans 201819 1 480 120 2016/17 and Fulham in 2018/19). ecce 201112 1 421 1820 releaton

ranaa 20141 1 299 120 The average age of players loaned to teams releaton of the five major European championships has 12 ere 200910 12 90 2020 changed little over ten years with an average ranaa 201112 12 0 120

of 24.6 years. Considerable differences exist RC eportvo 20141 12 40 120

between leagues. At one extreme, German ellas erona 20118 12 1920 releaton Bundesliga clubs mainly take young players enoa 20141 12 29 20 on loan (23.1 years of age on average). At the other, teams from the English Premier League ar 201011 12 28 2020 releaton loan more experienced footballers (25.3 years ara 201112 12 21 820 of age).

Figure 4: average age of players on loan, by league (2009/10-2018/19)

25.3 25.0 2 24.7 24.6 24.3

23.1 2

22 reer Sere a e 1 nesla - eae

3 Monthly Report 48 - Ten years of loans in the big-5 European leagues (2009-2019)

3. Who loans?

While clubs taking the most players on loan have limited resources, among those who loan frequently are several dominant teams: Chel- sea, Inter, Rome, Naples, Manchester City, etc. However, at the top of the rankings is a rela- tively modest team: Udinese. This position is linked to the fact that the owners of the Italian club were for a long period also the owners of Granada, where they lent many footballers. The Udinese-Granada axis is by far the strongest loan connection within the big-5 over the decade studied. Among other privileged rela- tionships are some involving teams outside of the five major championships. Benfica, for example, has lent many players to Deportivo La Coruña (9), as well as, similar to Udinese, Granada (5).

Figure 5: greatest number of players loaned to Figure 6: strongest loan connections to big-5 big-5 league clubs (2009/10-2018/19) league clubs (2009/10-2018/19)

1 nese Calco I 2 nese I Granada (ESP) 20

2 Chelsea FC E Benﬁca (POR) RC Deportivo (ESP) 9

Internaonale Mlano FC I Genoa (ITA) Chievo Verona (ITA) 9

4 vents FC I 1 Atalanta (ITA) Cesena (ITA) 8

S Roa I 4 Internazionale (ITA) Parma (ITA) 8

SSC apol I 41 Napoli (ITA) Parma (ITA)

Manchester Cty FC E 41 Watford (ENG) nese I

8 FC enoa 189 I 40 Internazionale (ITA) Livorno (ITA)

9 CF Forentna I Atlético Madrid (ESP) Rayo Vallecano (ESP)

SL Benﬁca (POR) Manchester City (ENG) Girona FC (ESP)

11 Mlan C I Dynamo Kyiv (UKR) Evian TG (FRA)

12 Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP) Benﬁca (POR) Granada (ESP)

Real Madrid CF (ESP) Fiorentina (ITA) Empoli (ITA)

14 Valencia CF (ESP) Fiorentina (ITA) Genoa (ITA)

S Monaco FR Atalanta (ITA) SPAL (ITA)

1 rsenal FC E 2 Roma (ITA) orno I

Sevilla FC (ESP) 2 Juventus (ITA) Empoli (ITA)

18 Palermo US (ITA) 0 Milan (ITA) Genoa (ITA)

ottenha otspr FC E 0

20 FC Barcelona (ESP) 29

Villarreal CF (ESP) 29

22 verpool FC E 28

2 FC Porto (POR) 2

24 olsbr ER 2

2 Sapora C I 2

4 Monthly Report 48 - Ten years of loans in the big-5 European leagues (2009-2019)

4. Loaned, and afterwards? Figure 7: highest % of minutes for goalkeepers on loan, big-5 leagues (2009/10-2018/19)

In certain cases, loans turn out to be a real EI I 100.0% 2011 Real Socea ES Man Cty E success. World-class footballers such as the WOJCIECH SZCZĘSNY 100.0% Belgians Thibault Courtois and Kevin de Bruyne 2011 S Roa I rsenal E

notably figure in the list of players loaned to IE CH 100.0% big-5 league clubs over the last ten years, At- 2011 ranaa ES Mlaa ES lético Madrid for the former and Werder Bre- 100.0% men for the latter, having played the greatest 2017/18, Huddersﬁeld (ENG) < Mainz (GER) EI 100.0% percentage of minutes during the season in 201819 es FR orea FR

question. IC CCI 97.4% 20114 olona I S Roa I

II EE 97.4% 201819 ara I apol I

E FTE 97.4% 201112 E rnha E

THIT CTI 97.4% 20121 tltco Mar ES Chelsea E

THIT CTI 97.4% 20114 tltco Mar ES Chelsea E

Figure 8: highest % of minutes for outfield players on loan, big-5 leagues (2009/10-2018/19)

IEE I 100.0% 20141 Epol I vents I

C CI 100.0% 2011 arstat ER erer reen ER

HE HE 99.0% 20118 E l hly E E

IC FEI 98.2% 2011 Crotone I Sassolo I

IE IET 98.0% 20141 asta FR nerlecht E

IC I 97.4% 201112 RC Espanyol ES Mlan I

EI E E 96.9% 20121 erer reen ER Chelsea E

IC 95.3% 20118 orno I yon FR

94.7% 20118 Crotone I vents I

TIE EIE 94.6% 200910 Monaco FR ent RS

5 Monthly Report 48 - Ten years of loans in the big-5 European leagues (2009-2019)

Outstanding footballers such as Duván Zap- Figure 9: highest number of goals scored for ata, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or Romelu players on loan, big-5 leagues (2009/10-2018/19)

Lukaku also figure in the list of players loaned T 23 to big-5 league clubs between 2009/10 and 201819 talanta I Sapora I 2018/19 having scored at least 15 champion- FTII I 20 ship goals during the season they were on 2011 Marselle FR Sansea E loan. C CCE 18 201819 ortn ER arcelona ES From a player’s perspective, a more global T 18 2011 Ebar ES tltco Mar ES analysis shows that loans constitute in most LUKA JOVIĆ 17 of the cases a step towards a definitive de- 2018/19, Eintracht Frankfurt (GER) < Benﬁca (POR)

parture. Indeed, only 29.6% of footballers lent EE E 17 to big-5 league clubs between 2009/10 and 201112 ottenha E Man Cty E 2018/19 returned to their owner team at the E 17 20121 E Chelsea E end of the loan period. In 27% of occurrences, E ET 16 they were loaned again, while in 43.4% of cas- 201819 S 201 I talanta I

es they were transferred on a permanent basis PIERRE-EMERICK AUBAMEYANG 16 to another team. 201112 St-tenne FR Mlan I E EI 16 201112 talanta I nese I

C CC 15 20118 llarreal ES Mlan I

15 201112 evante ES Sevlla ES

TH ETE 15 20121 asta FR orea FR

IECHW CHE 15 201112 ranaa ES llarreal ES

E 15 20114 Everton E Chelsea E

Figure 10: destination after loan period, big-5 leagues (2009/10-2018/19)

ree transer en or breach o contract retrn to oner clb 13.9%

pa transer to 29.6% another clb 13.8%

15.7% 11.3% ne loan to pa transer to 15.7% b- leae clb the loann clb

ne loan to non b- leae clb

6 Monthly Report 48 - Ten years of loans in the big-5 European leagues (2009-2019)

5. Conclusion

At the present time, numerous dominant clubs have a greater contingent of players on loan than footballers in their own squad. This situation has pushed the FIFA to consider pos- sible limitations to this practice. Safeguards make sense in avoiding the misuse of loan strategies orientated not towards a le- gitimate sporting logic to develop the potential of a young player on which the loaning team really counts, but rather towards an economic logic that aims to generate profits from the transfer market or a political logic aiming at exercising undue influence on rival clubs. Among the different imaginable options notably are a maximum limit of the number of players loaned, the banning of successive loans or the possibility for players who have been loaned multiple times to cancel their contract. In order to be effective, these meas- ures should be implemented alongside others regulating the questions of buy-back options (recompra) and the multi-ownership of clubs.