For the first time this season, it’s that time of the week once again, time to check in with West Ham United’s various loanees, both at home and across the continent, to see how they’ve been getting on in the past seven days, this week, we witness successful starts for Marcus Browne and Toni Martinez and the beginning of a new phase of Martin Samuelsen’s career.
Marcus Browne (Oxford United)
We start at home in England, with the first of the club’s young stars to go out on loan this summer, Development Squad playmaker Marcus Browne who has been enjoying his season-long loan with League One Oxford United.
Fresh from scoring on his debut for Karl Robinson’s men last Tuesday, a 2-0 Carabao Cup victory over Coventry City on home soil, the U’s faced a double-whammy of league encounters.
The first, on Saturday afternoon, saw them travel to the South Coast to do battle with Portsmouth, with the second seeing League One newbies Accrington Stanley visit the Kassam Stadium.
Browne, an Academy of football product, started both but could not prevent his new team falling to two consecutive defeats, despite scoring his second goal in the space of three matches, against Stanley last night.
The boyhood Hammer may be on top form, however, Robinson’s boys certainly aren’t, as they are yet to take a single point from League One, sitting 24th with four losses from four, ahead of Saturday’s home matchup with Burton Albion.
Martin Samuelsen (VVV-Venlo)
Our next destination is Holland and the second matchday of the new Eredivisie campaign over the weekend, also the second outing of Norwegian Samuelsen’s fifth loan as a West Ham player, to VVV-Venlo.
And he couldn’t have asked for a tougher test in his first home game as Maurice Steijn’s men entertained Dutch football powerhouses Ajax, at the De Koel Stadium.
Samuelsen made his second starting Xl in succession after making his debut in the league in the opening day away victory over Willem ll, but the winning theme wouldn’t continue on Saturday.
His team fell to a narrow defeat via a late Dusan Tadic penalty which leaves them languishing in mid-table in Holland’s Top-Flight, Samuelsen and his new teammates will be looking to close out the month with three points when they travel to FC Utrecht this weekend.
Antonio Martinez (Rayo Majadahonda)
Over in Spain, the weekend signalled the start of Spanish striker Toni Martinez’s second consecutive loan spell in the Segunda Division, having helped Real Valladolid to win La Liga promotion last season.
Manuel Pellegrini decided that Rayo Majadahonda of Madrid would be the best destination for him and so he made the move and will spend the rest of the campaign in the capital of his homeland.
Having secured the move to the newly-promoted team on Deadline Day, Martinez was illegible to play in the club’s first league game, a tough trip to promotion favourites Real Zaragoza.
While the club lost out 2-1, there was a huge positive for Martinez to take away with him and he followed in Browne’s footsteps and made an instant impact, netting a late consolation goal from the substitutes’ bench.
The 21-year-old will be hoping that this positive will be enough to earn him a rare start when Antonio Iriondo’s side host RCD Mallorca on Monday evening, their old rivals from last term.
Best Of The Rest
Meanwhile, in the same division, Montenegrin International loanee Sead Haksabanovic failed to make the Malaga squad for the opening victory over Lugo, he will be looking to be in contention next weekend for Pellegrini’s old club.
Sky Bet Championship duo Jordan Hugill and Sam Byram, who will be spending their 2018/2019 term at Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest, respectively, also failed to taste competitive action in the last seven days.
Hugill is yet to play a minute for Boro in the league but did net in a friendly win over ex-club Hartlepool Town this week, while Byram couldn’t follow his impressive performance in the cup win over Bury by making Saturday’s squad that drew with Wigan Athletic.
Finally, we end today’s Loan Report in Serie A, where youthful midfielder and first-teamer Edimilson Fernandes in spending a season away from East London to build his match fitness following a string of recent injuries.
He was due to make his debut for the Violets as the Italian top-flight season begun, but the opening match with Sampdoria was postponed due to the tragic Ponte Morandi bridge collapse that killed 43 people, he will be forced to wait until this weekend’s Chievo encounter.
So, now that you’ve been given the full lowdown on how the Irons’ seven loanees have fared over the last seven days at their temporary new clubs, how will they get on in the next week, will Fernandes make his Serie A debut or Hugill, his bow for his boyhood club? For that and much more, join us once again, early next week.
