To Loan or Not to Loan, That is the Question

Mainly aimed at young upcoming prospects. If you have decent training facilities and a good standard of coaching, what are the benefits of sending a player to a lower level on loan?

Yes they will get first team match time, but won't training at a low level there and being unable to dictate their schedule be a bit of a backward step in their overall development?

I guess it all depends on the level of football they are playing. In my current save as Forest, I sent Jamaal Lacelles out to Shrewsbury. He was only going to be back up but I thought he would play enough. He didn't and I wish I had kept him with me for the season instead.

Could you not just recall the guy from loan if needed?

I didn't put in a recall clause as I hoped he would get enough game time. He got some game time but didn't improve as much as I would have liked . Sometimes if you ask for a recall clause, clubs aren't interested in taking young players on loan.

I've always seen loaning as a 'holding' process between youth prospect and first team squad regular. So, with players of 16-19 I keep them at the club, with all the benefits of decent training facilities/coaches. These players will get U18/reserve game time and the older ones will get the occasional appearance in the early stages of the cups and easy prem games (I'm playing as Liverpool). At the end of this process, at 19ish, some players (for me Suso, Sterling and Bueno) are then ready to move directly into the first team squad. Some I decide aren't going to make it and I sell. The players that don't fit into either category I tend to loan (for me in this save these have been Yesil and Can), preferably to championship clubs or the SPL. This gives them a chance to get a good number of games and doesn’t seem to stall their development (in terms of them having poorer coaches/training facilities), gives me a chance to assess their competitive performances over a season, and for the odd player who I wanted to sell but couldn't shift, it gives them a whole season in the shop window so i can hopefully sell them at the end of their loan.

I know a lot has been written about this by people that have looked into it in heaps of detail but my gut feeling has always been that coaches/training facilities are most crucial for very young players, so i won’t loan anyone under 18, usually 19. At this stage/age I don't really notice a detrimental impact on their development from loaning them out. What helps them the most of course is staying at the club and getting a decent amount of first team game time, but if i can't guarantee this then i see loaning as the next best option for players towards the end of their 'youth development' phase.