As we saw with Rotherham striker Josh Kayode last season, the loan market can be a useful tool when the right player is identified and recruited.
And manager Chris Beech confirmed that it’s an avenue he may well explore again this season, should the need arise.
“Loans are a pretty precarious market because you’ve got to make sure you get the right lad,” he explained. “I think we’ve done really well with loans, but I know that Ethan Walker and Connor Malley probably didn’t play as much as they would have liked.
“Having said that, I can guarantee that if you speak to those players they’ll confirm they learned something here about being harder to play against, getting the ball back and about imposing your personality on the game.
“Josh Kayode was obviously a major success. He signed two new contracts at Rotherham when he was with us, he got back into international reckoning, because he wasn’t at that point, and ended up scoring his first international goal while he was here.
“We should be very proud of that as a club because it’s almost like he’s ours. We’ve developed another one on our platform, and that’s key to anyone out there who is in need of what we give. It’s important as a business that we’re quite attractive in that way. It shows we do things right.
“I’m pleased with what we’ve done with loans and I’m looking forward to seeing what we do next with it. Currently the bigger clubs are keeping hold of their players as numbers in training until their bigger players get back from the Euros.
“They’re not really releasing them at this moment in time. If you’re not really that valued at your club, you’re available right now. It’s just the way that market is.”
And on the possibility of bringing trialists into the building, he added: “We’re open to trialists, of course we are, but in terms of giving too much away, I’d rather not.
“In terms of looking at who that is as an individual, I think sometimes we tend to sort of put the spotlight on something that isn’t too important.
“Some will train, hopefully some will play in the games we’ve organised, so I’m pretty relaxed about it. We’re always looking to strengthen the team, but there’s no need to put pressure on these lads. Let’s just let them come in and show us what they can do.”
