5 Premier League players who need a loan move in January

#5 Kieran Dowell

Kieran Dowell's pathway at Everton appears to be blocked

One of the stars of England’s 2017 u20 World Cup winning side, Kieran Dowell moved to Nottingham Forest for a season-long loan in 2017/18 and subsequently made 38 appearances in the Championship, scoring 9 goals and assisting in 4. Dowell moved back to his parent club Everton for the beginning of 2018/19, but despite a bright pre-season, he has yet to make a Premier League appearance thus far, only having minutes in the Carabao Cup to his name.

Like his England u21 teammate Dominic Solanke, the attacking midfielder has displayed good performances on international duty, but he simply cannot break into Everton’s first team, unlike fellow youngsters Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Tom Davies.

Most likely this is down to the amount of options that Marco Silva has in his midfield – the Portuguese boss can call upon the talents of Gylfi Sigurdsson, Bernard and Andre Gomes in the positions that Dowell favours, meaning chances for him at Goodison Park are likely to be few and far between. But at 21, Everton may not want to cut him loose entirely just yet.

That’s why a loan move – perhaps to another Premier League side – might suit him best. A struggling side like Cardiff or Newcastle could certainly use a young player with Dowell’s talents, and it’d give Everton an excellent opportunity to see how he handles life at the top level. If he wants to progress at his age, first-team football is a must – and come January Dowell needs to look elsewhere for it.