Welcome to this week’s loan round up, wrapping up the best news form United’s youngsters plying their trade away from Old Trafford in the bid for either experience, or to put themselves into the shop window. This week’s edition should hopefully be much more concise than last weeks, as the perils of the transfer window saw Wilfried Zaha make his loan switch to Crystal Palace permanent on deadline day.
Starting off, it was two of United’s young strikers who stole the show. First off was Will Keane, who scored his first professional goal for Sheffield Wednesday to salvage a point for the Owls in a 1-1 draw against Cardiff. After opening account, the striker was praised by his manager, saluting his work rate and desire in front of goal. Similarly, Angelo Henriquez was on the score sheet to help drive Dinamo Zagreb to a 2-1 derby victory over cross city rivals Lokomotiva Zagreb.
One striker who failed to have such luck was Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez. The Mexican came off the bench for the final twenty minutes in the Madrid derby for Karim Benzema, but could do nothing to prevent Los Blancos being thumped 4-0 by Atletico. Into Real Madrid’s youth team, and Guillermo Varela is now playing alongside Norwegian wonderkid Martin Odegaard, as Castilla drew 2-2 with Atletic Club Bilbao II.
Fellow midfielder Ben Pearson also continued his run of starts for League One Barnsley, but could do little to help his side as they suffered a 2-0 defeat on the road at Swindon. Also in League One, Goalkeeper Sam Johnstone kept a clean sheet as Preston North End took all three points courtesy of a Kevin Davies strike against Coventry.
Tom Cleverley’s Aston Villa side finally scored after more than 10 hours of football, but a late Branislav Ivanovic winner ensured he was again on the losing side as they lost at home to Chelsea 2-1. Finally, Nani and his Sporting Lisbon side also had a derby to deal with as the faced Benfica in ‘O Clasico’. Sporting looked to have snatched the win with a 87th minute strike from Nascimento, but an injury time equaliser from Benfica ensured that the bragging rights were shared in Lisbon.
That’s it for this week’s round up, but with a round of mid-week fixtures and the FA Cup 5th round at the weekend there is plenty of action to digest, as United’s potential stars of the future again look to feature.Follow me on Twitter: @James_West93
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