Leicester City will be active in the transfer window over the coming weeks and it seems the loan market will be exploited.
City signed Facundo Buonanotte from Brighton on a season-long loan over the weekend, and they’ve now been linked to similar deals for Galatasaray’s Wilfried Zaha and Bayer Leverkusen’s Adam Hlozek. Amid concerns over Profit and Sustainability Rules, loans allow City to strengthen Steve Cooper’s squad without breaking the bank.
But just how many loan deals are they allowed to do? There can be some confusion over the issue as there are separate rules depending on whether the loaned player is coming from a domestic rival or from abroad.
In joining from Brighton, Buonanotte takes up one of two domestic loan spaces City are permitted. Over the course of the season, City are allowed a maximum of four loan players from English clubs, but they can only have two at once, and never more than one from any single side.
That’s why Sheffield United cancelled Luke Thomas’s loan contract in January. The left-back was taking up one of their two domestic loan spots, with Manchester City midfielder James McAtee occupying the other. So they could strengthen in other areas, they ended Thomas’s spell early, and brought in centre-back Mason Holgate on loan from Everton for the remainder of the campaign.
As for overseas loans, Fifa have changed the rules in recent years and as of this summer, there’s a cap of six ins and six outs (albeit club-trained players aged 21 or under don’t count towards outgoings). So even if City signed both Zaha and Hlozek, they could still loan in four more players from overseas clubs.
