Spanish Starlet Leaves on Loan

Talent development is a supremely difficult task in modern football, particularly at the top clubs, where stakes are high and chances to ease youngsters into a settled side in order to impress few and far between. Many big clubs work around this issue by loaning players out to leagues that suit their current ability better, with Chelsea a notorious employer of this model, regularly keeping as many as 30 players out on loan at any given time.

Under Brendan Rodgers, Liverpool looked to be heading down a similar path, but soon deviated when Jürgen Klopp took the reins. The German prefers to keep the majority of his players closer to home, sending only a select few out on temporary deals, and this summer, Pedro Chirivella has been selected, joining Dutch side Willem II on a season-long loan.

The 20-year old spent 6 months on loan in the Eredivisie last season, scoring two goals in 17 apperances for Go Ahead Eagles, but was unable to prevent the Deventer side from being relegated after ending the season at the bottom of the table.

Willem II is perhaps best known to Liverpool supporters as the club who sold Gérard Houllier Sami Hyypiä back in 1999. The Tilburgers placed 13th last year, and with little in the way of transfer business so far this summer, look set to strive for a mid-table finish in the upcoming season as well.

Whether this becomes the deep-lying playmaker’s breakout season or just another middling year on the road to his inevitable Bosman departure upon his contract’s end in 2020 remains to be seen, but for now, we wish him and his intermedial employer the best of luck for the upcoming campaign.