Recall From Loan or Leave them be

[Lerwick Saint]

Hi Everyone.  It's nearing the end of January in my save (Scottish Premiership) and I have 2 players I'm wondering whether to recall from loan.  One is playing at the top of League 1 and the other is playing at the top of League 2 and both doing really well.  I think they would both be useful to me as backup/rotation players, but I'm unsure if it's better for their development to carry on and see if they can get the lower league medals/promotions/awards that they might be heading for.  What's the general opinion opinion.  Would you think they'd be better off getting the odd subs appearance in the Premier, or being key parts of their loan clubs teams?  They are 17 and 18.

Edited September 19, 2021 by Lerwick Saint

[FrazT]

Game time is important to their development, so I would leave them on loan as long as they are being played regularly.

[Lerwick Saint]

Yes, agreed about the game time, but do you think 7-8 substitute appearances in the Scottish Premier would do them more good than 10-12 starts in the lower Scottish Leagues or not?  I'm also thinking I may need them if I get injuries, but can't recall them after the end of the transfer window.

[FrazT]

Personally, at that age, if they are getting regular game time in a successful side, I would rather have them playing every week rather than a few irregular sub appearances.

[Clarky323]

2 hours ago, FrazT said:

Personally, at that age, if they are getting regular game time in a successful side, I would rather have them playing every week rather than a few irregular sub appearances.

What about the training facilites though? Is it better to be playing more often at a lesser club with poor training facilities or is it better to keep them at your club with better training facilities but less game time?

[IbrahimAliMaher]

6 hours ago, Lerwick Saint said:

Hi Everyone.  It's nearing the end of January in my save (Scottish Premiership) and I have 2 players I'm wondering whether to recall from loan.  One is playing at the top of League 1 and the other is playing at the top of League 2 and both doing really well.  I think they would both be useful to me as backup/rotation players, but I'm unsure if it's better for their development to carry on and see if they can get the lower league medals/promotions/awards that they might be heading for.  What's the general opinion opinion.  Would you think they'd be better off getting the odd subs appearance in the Premier, or being key parts of their loan clubs teams?  They are 17 and 18.

I would recall the 17 y/o, too young to be out on loan IMO. I believe SI have said players develop better in your youth team at that age; once they hit 18 match experience becomes more important.

[Platinum]

9 minutes ago, IbrahimAliMaher said:

I would recall the 17 y/o, too young to be out on loan IMO. I believe SI have said players develop better in your youth team at that age; once they hit 18 match experience becomes more important.

SI said until approx age 18 training is more important than match experience. That's very different to youth football being better than first team football. First team football is always good as long as the player is playing at a level that is suited to there ability. (Also be aware that you can over play a youngster)

As long as the player is playing at an appropriate level and the training facilities are good I would say it's not an issue. The big downside is that your not in control of the players training though so it depends on if they matters for you and theres any thing you want the player to work on specifically. 

There is no "correct" answer though as each player is different. For me personally if a player wont be able to go straight into my team after just tweaking some stuff in training and they arent seeing big attribute increases due to training then a loan is good for the player.