Loan report: 8 Manchester United youngsters performing out on loan

Bebe

Adnan Januzaj’s sparkling Premier League debut for Manchester United dominated the headlines on Saturday. His name was repeated, re-repeated, searched, re-searched; so much so that even Twitter, Facebook and Google probably had enough of the Belgian player for some time to come.

There were even folks who had no idea how to spell his name paying a visit to Google, like your friendly neighbourhood doctor, to find out some of his other credentials as well.

But, from Thursday to Sunday last week, a whole host of other youngsters from United, playing elsewhere on loan managed to cause ripples with their impressive performances raising their stock in the process and giving a shout out to the bosses back home in Manchester that they too have some serious talent in them.

8. Davide Petrucci (Royal Antwerp)

He came on in the 86th minute to replace Guvenc who has been in fine form recently. Royal Antwerp drew 1-1 with Sint Truiden.

7. Bébé (Paços de Ferreira)

He was in action this weekend in the league as Paços took on Gil Vicente. He didn’t have his best match and was subbed off after 73 minutes. Paços lost 2-1.

The less said about his other performances, the better. In the midweek Europa League game on Thursday against Romanian side Pandurii, he had a 20% shooting accuracy as his side drew 1-1. In the first game too he had hardly any success though his team won 3-0.

He’s played six matches in all and scored one goal.

6. Ryan Tunnicliffe (Ipswich Town)

Ryan Tunnicliffe

He started for Ipswich Town as they took on Sheffield Wednesday. He was involved in setting up Ipswich’s first goal. Tunnicliffe later did some superb defensive covering to deny Wednesday when they went on the counter-attack. The game ended in a draw with Tunnicliffe completing the full 90 minutes.

Tunnicliffe has been used regularly at Ipswich having made seven appearances so far. Though he is yet to score, he has provided Ipswich with lots of energy.

5. Marnick Vermijl (NEC Nijmegen)

Marnick Vermijl (L)

He was involved in an early chance to give NEC the lead after squeezing through the Eagles defence but his shot was weak. Unfortunately things went downhill from there with NEC letting in three goals in the opening 30 minutes. They fought back in the second half to level the score but let in a late own goal to lose the match 4-3.

Vermijl has started all four games so far for Nijmegen and is averaging 2.8 tackles, 1 interception, 3.8 clearances and 1.3 blocked shots a game.

4. Federico Macheda (Doncaster Rovers)

Federico Macheda

He played 74 minutes of Doncaster Rovers’ 1-0 victory over Leicester City. Kiko had a chance to put Rovers in front after 15 minutes but slipped as he was taking the shot and it went wide.

But, this weekend was relatively quiet for Macheda compared to the start that he made. He had already scored 3 goals in his first 3 appearances before this weekend and has impressed under manager Paul Dickov. The Italian has shown plenty of zest in his performances so far for Doncaster.

3. Jesse Lingard (Birmingham City)

Jesse Lingard

He worked hard for his team. Came more into his own in the 2nd half making some good runs at the Bolton defence. Overall, didn’t have as much involvement as the fans or he would have liked but played the full match as Bolton ran out 2-1 winners.

Irrespective of that match, Lingard has started like a house on fire. He has a goals to game ratio of 1.2 goals/game having scored 5 goals in 4 appearances! What’s more he drew a blank in the last game, so it was technically 5 goals in 3 games. And he also has a good conversion rate.

2. Angelo Henriquez (Real Zaragoza)

Angelo Henriquez

He started and starred in Zaragoza’s 4-2 win against Mallorca as he scored twice before being subbed off in the 65th minute. Another excellent performance from the Chilean striker, as that performance made it 4 goals from 4 games.

The 19-year-old has looked sharp during his loan spell and his form augurs well for his and United’s future.

1. Nick Powell (Wigan Athletic)

Nick Powell (L)

He was in action for Wigan against Blackburn Rovers as they won 2-1. Powell was involved in a major incident that resulted in a straight red for opposition defender Grant Hanley. He had more shots as the game wore on but they were all easily saved.

Before that game, on Thursday night, Powell was busy masterminding Wigan’s 3-1 win over Maribor in the Europa League. He had two goals to his name, the second of them being a delightful effort that saw him take on two defenders, beat them with his dribble and score past the Maribor keeper with a nicely placed shot.

Playing in a more advanced role almost as a forward, Powell has been impressive scoring 3 goals and 1 assist averages at least 4 shots per game.