Best loan signing in our history

[Yorkshire Saint]

Throwing it out there as a question.. 

[Disco Stu]

I'm struggling to think of many great ones. Toby Alderweireld is one that comes to mind in recent memory.

[Yorkshire Saint]

1 minute ago, Disco Stu said:

I'm struggling to think of many great ones. Toby Alderweireld is one that comes to mind in recent memory.

Good call

[Yorkshire Saint]

Michael Gilkes From Reading, I think he was a replacement for Danny or Rodney Wallace..

(Not Johnno quick)

[imadirtyurchin]

Ronnie Eklund

[imadirtyurchin]

Or Marek Saganowski. (The less said about his permanent signing the better though) 

[Gloucester Saint]

Ronnie Ekelund for sheer quality. Richard Wright a useful short-term loan.

Plenty of successful loans which haven’t translated quite as well after then joining on a longer-term basis - Saganowski, THB and Downes (in the PL), Fraser, Rasiak. 

[Badger]

2 minutes ago, imadirtyurchin said:

Ronnie Eklund

Gets my vote.

Alderweirald a close second. If only we could have kept either of them ( Ekelund barring injury) 

[Oh no Mick Mills]

Ronnie Ecklund is the stand out one for me. 

A more obscure one was Jack Cork in the disastrous 08/09 Championship relegation team. He was very young but clearly a class act. 

 

 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

Hard to go past Ekelund.

But Berkovic and Ings both made impacts on loan before signing.

 

[Saint Neil]

Kasey Keller for making his debut in a 2-1 victory against the skates. An emergency loan no less due to injuries.

[skintsaint]

Guly on top of others mentioned.

[Badger]

17 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Hard to go past Ekelund.

But Berkovic and Ings both made impacts on loan before signing.

 

Berkovic was a bit of a strange one. Was it widely known when he joined that it was a loan ? 

[ErwinK1961]

One of Nicholas Bignall or Dany Nguessan probably.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

8 minutes ago, Badger said:

Berkovic was a bit of a strange one. Was it widely known when he joined that it was a loan ? 

My brain cell thought he was with us a bit longer than he was. Just a loan season.

[Appy]

Saganowski was good. 
 

Then garbage when we made him permanent. 

[Andrew Watson]

Ronnie Eklund.

[Katalinic]

Thomas Pekhart, Jordan Robertson or Neil Trotman. But being serious it is hard to look beyond Ekelund. Dale Stephens and Joe Rothwell both contributed to promotions. Other random maybe forgotten loans were Eric Nixon and Jason Bowen.

[Ekelund]

Never fall in love with a loan player. Trust me 🙁

[Dusic]

Over 200 apps later KWP is a decent shout for this, certainly in more recent times.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

I can't see Paul Williams being up to much...oh, he's used his experience and skill to steady our defence. That's me wrong then. 🙂

[maysie]

Bertrand was on loan initially wasn’t he?

[Patrick Bateman]

3 hours ago, imadirtyurchin said:

Ronnie Eklund

This

[HarvSFC]

Remember Saphir Taider?

Steven Caulker was so good he got a move to Liverpool after his loan.

[benjii]

7 hours ago, Saint Neil said:

Kasey Keller for making his debut in a 2-1 victory against the skates. An emergency loan no less due to injuries.

Great call!

[benjii]

3 hours ago, HarvSFC said:

Remember Saphir Taider?

Steven Caulker was so good he got a move to Liverpool after his loan.

Taider ❤️

[Willo of Whiteley]

Got to be KWP surely, then signing permanently and making 200 appearances?

Saganowski got 10 in 13 during his loan spell, but only scored three more times after that.

Ryan Fraser, Joe Rothwell, David Brooks and Taylor Harwood-Bellis all contributed during the promotion season two years ago.

Michail Antonio before he beefed up even more than he was, he was excellent second half of the JPT season.

[Paulwantsapint81]

Ryan Bertrand & KWP were both class on loan 

 

Was Ekelund as good as I remember or is it very much rose tinted glasses syndrome?

 

[Turkish]

6 hours ago, HarvSFC said:

Remember Saphir Taider?

Steven Caulker was so good he got a move to Liverpool after his loan.

❤️ of course he has a whale of a time whilst he was here not on the pitch unfortunately 

surprised no one mentioned Albert Gronbaek yet, what a signing!

[AlexLaw76]

Cornet - what a player

[egg]

20 minutes ago, Turkish said:

❤️ of course he has a whale of a time whilst he was here not on the pitch unfortunately 

surprised no one mentioned Albert Gronbaek yet, what a signing!

Seemed utterly pointless at the time, and so it proved. 

30 minutes ago, Paulwantsapint81 said:

Was Ekelund as good as I remember or is it very much rose tinted glasses syndrome?

 

Yes. Absolute class. Injury free, he'd have been a superstar. 

[BarryVenisonsHair]

Zoltan Liptak. Tamas Pekhart. Romain Gasmi. Callum Davenport. Danny N'Guessan. Sapher Taider. Kamil Kosowski. Marcelo Tejera. 

 

Legends, one and all. 

[Green]

Stephen O’Halloran was a strange one, from Villa, seemed to be linked to a promotion for the U21s game ROI England at St Mary’s. 

[for_heaven's_Saint]

Papa Waigo!

[Paul Chuckle]

Alan Bennett from Reading 07/08 season. 

[Gloucester Saint]

Richard Chaplow’s first Saints spell was on loan as was Jack Cork’s as someone else mentioned. 

[Gloucester Saint]

2 minutes ago, Paul Chuckle said:

Alan Bennett from Reading 07/08 season. 

Got better but that debut v Palace….his namesake the famous playwright would have been more solid that day.

Works for the FAI now. 

[CB Fry]

4 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Got better but that debut v Palace….his namesake the famous playwright would have been more solid that day.

Oh, mother. I failed to track back and clear the lines because my mind had wandered to a delicious Plum Duff we once had at Mrs Fetherington's Teashop on the Bradford Road. There was a wet spoon in the sugar bowl that you said was unforgivable. Purple cardigan, how gauche it reminds of the time we oh shiiiit lost my man. Two nil

[egg]

11 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Oh, mother. I failed to track back and clear the lines because my mind had wandered to a delicious Plum Duff we once had at Mrs Fetherington's Teashop on the Bradford Road. There was a wet spoon in the sugar bowl that you said was unforgivable. Purple cardigan, how gauche it reminds of the time we oh shiiiit lost my man. Two nil

How was the plum duff? 

[Paul Chuckle]

Federico 'The Torpedo' Arias 

 

[egg]

21 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Got better but that debut v Palace….his namesake the famous playwright would have been more solid that day.

Works for the FAI now. 

That debut was something else. Not sure I've witnessed a more inept performance. And that includes the infamous one. 

[Wade Garrett]

Ronnie Ekelund, Toby A.

[Gloucester Saint]

21 minutes ago, egg said:

That debut was something else. Not sure I've witnessed a more inept performance. And that includes the infamous one. 

Agree it was worse than Holgate at Sunderland. Perhaps not Jankewitz though…

Worst for any club was an Aussie goalkeeper for Norwich at home to Colchester - 1-7 opening day, was at a Norwich fan’s stag do. One game and out. Bryan Gunn signed him and he was a top goalkeeper as well. 

 

Edited 22 June, 2025 by Gloucester Saint

[bpsaint]

12 hours ago, Saint Neil said:

Kasey Keller for making his debut in a 2-1 victory against the skates. An emergency loan no less due to injuries.

Good shout that, never forget that worldie save he made from a Matt Taylor volley in injury time, and the subsequent USA! USA! USA! chants.

My first thought when I read the thread title though was Saganowski. Honestly the drop off from the player we had on loan, to the one we signed permanently was incredible.

[Kenilworthy59]

Maybe we should restrict it to players who were on loan and then didn't sign permanently? One that is often overlooked is Justin Fashanu - scored 3 goals in 9 games. And I believe he was our first loan player to score for us. Real shame he didn't sign permanently. Maybe his life would have worked out better in the more stable environment of Saints.

[Appy]

For a short term loan, Richard Wright was brilliant. 

[SaintNewForest]

Anyone remember Marcelo Sarmiento, or Ian Pearce? 

Edited 22 June, 2025 by SaintNewForest

[Paul Chuckle]

8 minutes ago, SaintNewForest said:

Anyone remember Marcelo Sarmiento, or Ian Pearce? 

Don't mean to go all MLG on you but didn't we sign Sarmiento?

[Toussaint]

I recall Peter Reid having a brief run under Branfoot. He transformed the team in that very short run. Obviously not a contender for best loanee ever, nevertheless worth a mention.

Edited 22 June, 2025 by Toussaint

[beatlesaint]

For me Ekelund and Antonio