Spurs loan watch: Club considering recalling midfielder at League One side
By Tom Vinall
According to a recent report, Tottenham Hotspur are considering recalling midfielder Matthew Craig from his loan spell at Barnsley, with an idea of sending him on loan elsewhere – amid interest from a “number of EFL clubs”.
Spurs considering recalling midfielder to send elsewhere
Despite getting plenty of games early on in the season, where he only failed to appear in one of the Tykes first 15 games to start the season, he has found game time in recent weeks much, much harder to come by. The midfielder’s last start was on the 5th of October, and since then he has only totalled 51 minutes of action.
In all competitions, Craig has been an unused sub for Barnsley’s last six games, as the South Yorkshire side slide down the table, having fallen out of the play-off spots altogether recently. Spurs are clearly conscious of this, and are now preparing to figure the best solution for him.
It has been a mixed bag when it comes to loanees this season. Luka Vuskovic and Alfie Devine have been the best success stories so far, with both players doing really well at Belgian Pro League side KVC Westerlo. In League Two, George Abbott has enjoyed plenty of regular minutes for promotion hopefuls Notts County.
Up in the Championship, Ashley Phillips has started over ten games in a row for Stoke City, though Dane Scarlett has been more in and out of the starting XI at Oxford United. In League One, Josh Keeley is enjoying a really good spell in goal for Leyton Orient, after a tough start. The opposite applies for Jamie Donley, though he has been back in the team again lately.
On the continent, Bryan Gil has done fairly well with Girona, earning Spain call ups, and scoring his first goal for his country. Alejo Veliz has badly struggled with RCD Espanyol, both collectively and individually.
Whilst in previous instances, you could perhaps criticise the club for choosing loan clubs poorly, they have been a bit unfortunate with Craig. As touched on above, he got plenty of game time to begin with, and manager has simply developed different preferences. Not much you can do. That said, as someone who follows a club Clarke used to manage, loan players was never his forte. So there is that.
Still, it is good that Spurs are being pro-active about the situation. As the report says, there is plenty of EFL interest in the youngsters services, so let’s hope they choose wisely – as they did with Doncaster Rovers last season.
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