More and more of the best young players from the Premier League are coming down on loan to the EFL, where loan moves can be crucial to a player’s development during times when playing time is scarce in the top flight.
Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, a star player for Crystal Palace, is one player who has done so before.
Rak-Sakyi joined League One team Charlton Athletic for the 2022–2023 season because he wasn’t quite ready for playing time at Selhurst Park. To say he did well there would be an understatement.
That season, Charlton was a mediocre team, but Rak-Sakyi made a big impression. He went on to score 15 goals and dish out nine assists while on loan at The Valley.
Consequently, many Championship teams were eager to sign the Palace prospect on loan; Ipswich and Sunderland were just two of the teams rumored to be interested.
Ultimately, nothing materialized this summer, but both clubs might be considering a January transfer given that Rak-Sakyi has only made six Premier League appearances.
That was prior to Roy Hodgson, the manager of Palace, providing the most recent update on Rak-Sakyi’s injury.
According to South London Press, the Eagles’ manager told the media, “It’s bad,” confirming Hodgson.
“We are not 100% certain. We’re probably talking for a longer period of time than a week or two. It really is a blow.
Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze are almost back to full strength, but you lose another player who we believe is crucial to our attacking strategy right after.
Hodgson’s remarks may not be good for Ipswich and Sunderland.
It is obviously unfortunate to see a young player like Jesurun Rak-Sakyi suffer an injury, and it is even worse news that the extent and nature of the injury are still unknown.
However, it must be acknowledged that the aforementioned remarks may not be good news for teams like Ipswich Town and Sunderland, arguably for a few different reasons.
First of all, we are presuming that Rak-Sakyi is still a top priority for both parties and that they would both like to see him back on loan in January.
Any kind of chronic injury, though, would definitely rule that out.
Are Crystal Palace really going to want to loan Rak-Sakyi out into a situation where they can’t protect his minutes when he first returns, even if he were to recover in, say, December? That could, of course, be argued to be unlikely.
Moreover, based on Hodgson’s previous remarks, it appears that he is truly devastated to have lost the child temporarily.
This may indicate that Hodgson intended to involve him more frequently going forward.
Naturally, in that case, there would be no need for a Championship loan move to get regular minutes.
In fact, Hodgson’s injury disclosure and remarks about Jesurun Rak-Sakyi may not be good news for Ipswich and Sunderland for all the previously mentioned reasons.
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