West Ham are flying thanks to a couple of clever temporary deals. Manchester United feature in this XI of the greatest Premier League loanees.
Goalkeeper: Dean Henderson (Sheffield United)
Before he became the illegitimate goalkeeping son of Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar with a commanding performance and key role in the clinching goal against Manchester City on Sunday, Dean Henderson was far more of an erstwhile Sheffield United stopper than he was the potential Manchester United No. 1 for the next decade.
It was at Bramall Lane that the 23-year-old cut his teeth and, thankfully and eventually, his bowl-cut hair. For two seasons he patrolled the posts for the Blades, winning their Young Player of the Year award and the Championship Golden Glove in 2018/19. He stayed with them in promotion, keeping as many clean sheets as Alisson and David de Gea in his debut top-flight campaign as Sheffield United finished an impressive ninth. They were good when fans were there, you know.
Right-back: Kyle Walker (Aston Villa)
Few might remember but it was while playing for Aston Villa that Kyle Walker actually earned his first England call-up. Gerard Houllier’s side boasted some decent coverage in Fabio Capello’s February 2011 squad, which also included Darren Bent, Ashley Young and Stewart Downing. David Stockdale and Matt Jarvis were also involved. It was a strange time.
Walker withdrew due to injury but continued to impress at Villa Park in what was his fourth and final career loan. After spells with Northampton in League One and both Sheffield United and QPR in the Championship, he took to Premier League life seamlessly. His first goal in the competition was a wonderful 30-yard effort against Fulham for the Villans, who Walker declared himself happy to stay with come season’s end, but Tottenham had grander plans in mind.
Centre-back: Robert Huth (Leicester)
There might genuinely never have been a better loanee in Premier League history. Leicester were bottom of the Premier League on the day they brought Robert Huth in on a temporary deal from Stoke in February 2015. One year and three months later, he and they were the most unlikely champions in domestic football history.
The Foxes failed to win any of his first five matches, losing to Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham and drawing with Everton and Hull as Nigel Pearson struggled to steer them to safety. But their Premier League record in the subsequent games Huth started, in which they comfortably avoided relegation before being inspired by Arsenal selfies to lift the title, read: P44 W28 D12 L4 F80 A39. Two of the three fixtures the German missed in the championship-winning season were for sex masochism. Typical.
Centre-back: Mamadou Sakho (Crystal Palace)
Craig Dawson might soon force his way into this side if West Ham qualify for the Champions League, while Nathan Ake could count himself unfortunate to miss out after solid spells with Watford and Bournemouth on his way to becoming the world’s most expensive afterthought. But Mamadou Sakho, while not quite solely capable of turning Crystal Palace from Championship fodder to Premier League winners, was impeccable in helping them retain their top-flight status.
Sam Allardyce was in trouble in winter 2017. Palace were 18th, two points from safety but three from the bottom. Their fate was hanging in the balance until a transformational transfer window saw Jeffrey Schlupp, Patrick van Aanholt, Luka Milivojevic and Sakho arrive. The French centre-half was undeniably the biggest risk, having not played a single senior game since April 2016, a doping ban – later overturned – ruling him out of the Europa League final and European Championships before Jurgen Klopp sacrificed him to prove a point.
Despite that long break, Sakho was a revelation at Selhurst Park. His eight starts produced five wins, four clean sheets, two defeats and one draw. He played in 21% of their matches yet Palace earned 39% of their points that season with him. Injuries have prevented him from remaining quite so imperious under Roy Hodgson but Sakho will always have those first few months.
Left-back: Ryan Bertrand (Southampton)
The only thing that prevented Ryan Bertrand from becoming the first loanee to make the PFA Premier League Team of the Year was that Southampton deigned to make that deal permanent a couple of months prior. Chelsea were as happy to let him go in July 2014 as they were to sell him for £10m in February 2015, a day after he was sent off for fouling Modou Barrow in a defeat to Swansea. That was the only mark against the left-back in an otherwise impeccable season as Saints thrived under Ronald Koeman. Bertrand remains at St Mary’s as one of only four players to start both 9-0 defeats – although his sending-off in the first did precipitate that massacre.
Right-winger: Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace)
“I’m just buzzing to be back, to be in and around the lads again,” was the strange opening line from Wilfried Zaha, who could be forgiven for any Freudian slips considering how palpable the excitement around Crystal Palace was. “There have been rumours for a while, but it was only yesterday that it got sorted out and I am happy because I just need to get out and play. The best place to come back to is Palace where I am loved.”
So it proved, as a Selhurst Park return was precisely the rehabilitation Zaha required after a remarkably unhappy time at Manchester United that was only briefly punctuated by a curious loan at Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Cardiff. Zaha slotted straight back into the scenery at Palace, who were understandably happy enough with his contribution to send £3m to Old Trafford by February to keep him outright. Unfortunately for him they have stuck to that for the subsequent six years.
Central midfield: Mikel Arteta (Everton)
Jesse Lingard might be his latest fleeting football love affair but David Moyes will never recapture the true magic of Mikel Arteta at Everton. When the Toffees, pushing for Champions League qualification, were rocked by the bizarre loss of Thomas Gravesen to Real Madrid in January 2005, they sought the solace of Real Sociedad. Arteta joined for the final four months of the season, helping edge them into that crucial last spot ahead of Liverpool.
The Spaniard signed a five-year contract by July and almost inspired Everton past Villarreal in a Champions League qualifier, firing a wonderful free-kick before assisting a Duncan Ferguson bullet header that levelled the tie, only for Pierluigi Collina to mysteriously disallow it in what would be his final game as a referee. “Maybe he should have retired earlier,” was Arteta’s justifiably pithy line a few months later.
Central midfield: Ivan Campo (Bolton)
After playing every knockout stage minute of Real Madrid’s 2000 Champions League victory, including an assured performance in the 3-0 final win over Valencia, Ivan Campo perhaps assumed he had established himself at the Santiago Bernabeu after a couple of years in the Spanish capital. Yet 16 starts in the subsequent two seasons betrayed a relationship with manager Vicente Del Bosque that had clearly broken down. As most of us would, Campo pursued the refuge offered by life in Horwich.
For one glorious season Campo spent half his time dutifully manning Bolton’s midfield, with the rest of his life dedicated to exaggerating tackles by diving to the ground, holding the ball and protesting, whether or not an actual foul had been given. He aided that iconic team in escaping relegation by two points, yet to the surprise of most he opted to stay at the end of the deal, signing a three-year contract and rejecting the chance to return to Real to fight for his place under new management.
Left-winger: James Milner (Aston Villa)
Roughly five months separated David O’Leary’s sacking at Leeds and the first-team debut of one James Milner. The spiral had long set in by that point at Elland Road, with a reluctant Milner’s 2004 sale to Newcastle symptomatic of their dire financial issues.
The stars aligned by summer 2005 when Aston Villa manager O’Leary negotiated a Milner loan clause into the deal that saw Nolberto Solano head to St James’ Park. The 19-year-old was one of few bright sparks as Villa slumped to 16th. O’Leary left again at the end of that season and Milner eventually returned to Newcastle after negotiations over a permanent deal broke down. Two full campaigns at St James’ Park followed before Villa came calling again, this time armed with £12m and a four-year contract in 2008.
Centre-forward: Carlos Tevez (Manchester United)
Oh, for the drama of MSI, third-party investments, compensation claims and High Court rulings. Transfer sagas just aren’t the same anymore. But at least absolutely everyone learned that dealing with Kia Joorabchian is a fool’s errand. No Premier League club will ever make that mistake again. Certainly none based in London.
It was technically a two-year lease, not a loan, that brought Carlos Tevez to Manchester United in 2007. After helping West Ham stave off relegation, the forward had plenty of presentable career options to choose from. Sir Alex Ferguson tempted him to Carrington, West Ham were sweetened with a £2m pay-off for a player they never owned, and one of the biggest clubs in world football borrowed a striker’s economic rights from the secretive third-party groups that actually owned them.
At least it was still worth the hassle. Tevez scored 34 goals in 99 games as the ideal foil to Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov, winning two Premier League titles and the Champions League. Ferguson was always desperate to keep him yet things soon soured to the extent that he joined Manchester City instead come summer 2009.
Centre-forward: Romelu Lukaku (West Brom and Everton)
There are plenty of candidates – Jurgen Klinsmann, Kevin Campbell, Christophe Dugarry and Daniel Sturridge among them. It took a few weeks for Manchester United to develop an obsession with Henrik Larsson. But Romelu Lukaku looked sensational on loan twice.
West Brom finished a solid tenth in 2011/12, then brought Lukaku in from Chelsea to come eighth as the Belgian netted 17 times, including a perfect hat-trick in Ferguson’s final game as a manager. Jose Mourinho contemplated keeping him at Stamford Bridge but a Super Cup penalty shoot-out miss contributed to the decision to let him go again. Everton benefited from that call, as they went from sixth and ten points off the top four in 2012/13 to fifth and seven points behind with his 15 goals.
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