30 Youngsters Who Should Be Loaned out in January Transfer Window

Here are 30 footballers 23 years or younger playing at European clubs, who should be loaned out in the January transfer window. 

Criteria

To be included on the list, the footballer has to be going through adversity and may struggle to be a week in, week out starter for his current club going forward.

The 30 footballers on this list will be subjectively ranked via a combination of:

• Standard of competition the footballer is playing at.
• Current ability
• Upside.

30. Joshua Brillante

Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press

Fiorentina's Australian central midfielder Joshua Brillante, 21, was harshly subbed off 35 minutes into a 2-0 defeat to Roma.

Starting on the right wing, Brillante looked lost, but he should have been given till half-time. 

It is clear Fiorentina don't rate him as Serie A standard right now, so he should gain experience playing a level lower on loan in Serie B.

29. Mustafa Amini

Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

Borussia Dortmund's Australian central midfielder Mustafa Amini, 21, is in his third year at the club, but he has yet to feature in the Bundesliga.

He should have demanded a loan to an Eredivisie or Belgian Pro League club in year two. 

Amini represents the future of Australian football and right now his development is stagnating.

28. Modou Barrow

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Swansea City's Gambian right-winger Modou Barrow, 22, has fought his way to the top of the game having started from the bottom. 

Barrow needs to be given the ball and in the minutes he has played for Swansea, he has often asked, but not received.

He has only completed three accurate passes in 61 minutes. 

The jump from the Swedish second division to the Premier League is massive, so perhaps he should play at a Championship club temporarily.

27. Lucas Evangelista

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Udinese's treatment of Brazilian central attacking midfielder Lucas Evangelista, 19, is almost as bizarre as Doria at Marseille.

Evangelista is not even a super-sub.

Having signed from Sao Paulo for €4/£3.2 million, Evangelista has cost Udinese €50,000/£39,510 per minute in Serie A (has only played 80 minutes).

26. Otavio

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Porto's Brazilian central attacking midfielder Otavio, 19, was a standout at Internacional alongside Andres D'Alessandro (remember him?) last season. 

Otavio and D'Alessandro combined for 17 goals and 11 assists.

After moving to Porto, Otavio has been stashed away in the B team. Surely, he is good enough to play for a bottom-tier Primeira Liga club on loan.

25. Josip Radosevic

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Napoli's Croatian defensive midfielder Josip Radosevic, 20, has made small gains this season.

Initially left out of Matchday squads, he now warms the benches.

But compared to last season, he has regressed because at least he was making cameo appearances back then.

Radosevic is the fifth-choice defensive midfielder behind David Lopez, Gokhan Inler, Jorginho and Walter Gargano.

24. M'Baye Niang

Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

AC Milan's French centre/right/left-forward M'Baye Niang, 19, is in an all-time worst Serie A shooting slump.

• 31 games.
• 1,137 minutes.
• 40 shots.
• No goals.

Niang can have explosive moments, but he is too inconsistent. 

23. Santi Mina

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Celta Vigo's Spanish right/left-forward Santi Mina, 19, cannot take on players from the bench.

Either he is overhyped, or Celta Vigo management are being overly cautious with Mina's development. 

It is inexplicable that Celta Vigo would consistently leave such a potent weapon on the bench time after time.

If they don't believe he can cut it in La Liga right now, loan him to a Segunda Division team.

22. Antonio Sanabria

Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Roma's Paraguayan centre-forward Antonio Sanabria, 18, has been playing European football, just not the one he had hoped for.

Instead of starring in the UEFA Champions League, he is playing in the UEFA Youth League.

Sanabria should be playing against seasoned professionals rather than his peers. 

21. Fernando Aristeguieta

Moises Castillo/Associated Press

Nantes' Venezuelan centre-forward Fernando Aristeguieta, 22, struggled last season scoring two goals in 645 minutes of Ligue 1 play.

This season, he has been in and out of the Nantes' first team.

He is Nantes' third-choice centre-forward behind Yacine Bammou and Itay Shechter. 

Yes, the same Shechter, who was one of the worst players in the Premier League for Swansea City, netting one goal from 631 minutes during the 2012-13 season.

20. Raul Jimenez

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

Atletico Madrid's Mexican centre-forward Raul Jimenez, 23, is going down the Leo Baptistao route of losing confidence.

Jimenez is part of the first team, but he is only seen as a squad player and his future may lie elsewhere, a la Baptistao. 

Jimenez has made minimal impact in 355 minutes of play in La Liga for Atleti.

19. Salih Ucan

Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Roma's Turkish central midfielder Salih Ucan [1], 20, has probably spent more time watching teammate Kevin Strootman rehabilitate.

Strootman, who has been injured for most of this season, has played more minutes (60) than Ucan (four).

Three months into the Serie A campaign, Ucan has yet to play out a quarter of a football game. Talk about a demoralising initiation into top-flight Italian football. 

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[1] Fenerbahce still hold Ucan's playing rights since it is a two-year loan, but Roma can trigger a €11/£8.7 million buyout clause, per UEFA.com. 

What will probably happen is Ucan being loaned out to a smaller Italian team, per Corriere dello Sport (h/t Football Italia).

18. Jesse Lingard

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Manchester United's English right/left-winger Jesse Lingard, 21, proved last season he has an insurance policy if he does not make it at Old Trafford.

He scored 10 goals and accumulated six assists in loan spells at Championship clubs Birmingham City and Brighton & Hove Albion. 

Injury has hindered Lingard's progress this season.

17. Ibrahima Mbaye

Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

Inter Milan's Senegalese right wing-back Ibrahima Mbaye, 20, has gone from a Livorno starter to being a bit-part player again.

Sure, the allure of being at a big club like Inter is great for Mbaye's CV.

But he gained more playing on loan at Livorno last season, than sitting on the Inter bench watching Joel Obi and Yuto Nagatomo test their lactic-acid levels.

16. Levin Oztunali

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Bayer Leverkusen's German left attacking midfielder Levin Oztunali, 18, is a big prospect. 

In limited minutes, he has fought tooth and nail to win the ball. He is a tenacious runner and he has taken several ambitious shots. 

But his passing needs to improve because a 59.6 completion percentage is unacceptable.

Being loaned to a 2. Bundesliga club would be more beneficial to his development than him playing several minutes here and there for Leverkusen.

15. Branimir Hrgota

Frank Augstein/Associated Press

Borussia Monchengladbach's Swedish centre-forward Branimir Hrgota, 21, has flattered to deceive since his hat-trick against Mainz last year. 

Since then, he has only scored an additional two goals in the Bundesliga.

As long as Max Kruse and Raffael are at the club, Hrgota is going to struggle to maximise his upside.

14. Jannik Vestergaard

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Hoffenheim's Danish centre-back/defensive midfielder Jannik Vestergaard, 22, possesses eye-catching physical tangibles. 

He is a 6'6" and 216 pound footballer, who provides a hulking presence and has untapped potential. 

Granted, he has not been overly convincing when he has played in recent seasons, but remember, it only takes one manager to believe in him.

13. Vaclav Kadlec

Ariel Schalit/Associated Press

Eintracht Frankfurt's Czech Republic centre-forward/right attacking midfielder Vaclav Kadlec, 22, is probably one of the most technically gifted players in the Bundesliga.

A wunderkind at Sparta Prague, this is not the career path Kadlec envisioned several years ago.

He has spent most of this season marooned on the bench.

12. Andros Townsend

Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press

Tottenham Hotspur's English right/left attacking midfielder Andros Townsend, 23, is a fun player to watch, but he is flawed. 

He generally holds onto the ball too long, he dribbles blind and is a volume shooter. 

Unless he improves his efficiency, he won't be Premier League standard when he loses his acceleration.

11. Sergi Roberto

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Barcelona's Spanish central midfielder Sergi Roberto, 22, is smooth in possession and an accurate passer.

He completes 93.5 percent of his passes in the UEFA Champions League, which increases to 96.2 in league play.

Roberto's problem is his style is conservative, don't make a mistake and safe. There are some parallels to when Tom Cleverley played at Manchester United.

The thought process is presumably not wanting to be identified as a weak link, but Roberto's mediocrity stands out in a team full of superstars. 

Yes, Roberto has talent, but it is evident he needs to showcase his ability on a team that will allow him to make mistakes as he expands his passing range.

10. Alvaro Medran

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

Real Madrid's Spanish central midfielder Alvaro Medran, 20, has been doing his best to get noticed.

He scored in a 4-0 win over Ludogorets Razgrad and made several swift passes coming on as a substitute in a 5-0 win over Levante.

If Cruzeiro's Lucas Silva joins Real Madrid in the January transfer window, per Ruben Jimenez at Marca, then Medran should be loaned to a bottom-tier La Liga team.

It would be counter-productive to delay Medran's progress, which is what Borja Valero experienced when he was in the Real Madrid setup.

9. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg

Michael Regan/Getty Images

Bayern Munich's Danish central midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, 19, has shown snippets of class when he has been given a run with the first team. 

But, he has not asserted himself and he has floated in and out of games, so no wonder Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola has not used Hojbjerg regularly. 

"I think the time has come for me to go a different way," Hojbjerg said, per Kicker (h/t FIFA.com). "I feel ready now to take the leap."

8. Doria

Ricardo Ramos/Getty Images

Marseille's Brazilian centre-back Doria, 20, was a star at Botafogo. 

But since moving to France, Marseille manager Marcelo Bielsa has made it abundantly clear he had no impetus in signing Doria.

That is the supposition you come to because rookies Gael Andonian (10 minutes) and Stephane Sparagna (58 minutes) have had more playing time than Doria (N/A) in Ligue 1.

7. Lindsay Rose

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Lyon's French centre-back Lindsay Rose, 22, has spent most of this season watching his teammates play.

In spite of being a defender with elite potential, Rose is a luxury squad player, backing up Samuel Umtiti, Milan Bisevac and Bakary Kone.

Rose's agent should start the Twitter campaign: #FreeLRose.

6. Ruben Vezo

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

Valencia's Portuguese centre-back Ruben Vezo, 20, probably compares his situation to that of Real Madrid's Raphael Varane.

Both exceptionally talented defenders, but they have to wait.

Vezo is more likely to be loaned out because Varane has had stretches of world-class form.

Whereas, Vezo is primarily potential. 

5. Mohamed Salah

Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

Chelsea's Egyptian right attacking midfielder Mohamed Salah, 22, effectively signed for Vitesse when he opted for the Blues. 

Having only played 12 minutes in the Premier League this season, it would make sense on paper if Salah was loaned to Vitesse, a club Chelsea have a partnership with.

Though, given Chelsea loanee Bertrand Traore has been playing on the right side for Vitesse, it is not wise to jeopardise his playing time, especially when he is still looking to get in form.

4. Joel Campbell

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Prior to a segment of Gooners expletively abusing Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, one fan gave sound advice to 22-year-old Costa Rican centre-forward Joel Campbell.

"Joel, leave! Do your best thing. Leave!" the Gooner shouted. "Get out while you can, Joel!"

Campbell has had 38 minutes in the Premier League to justify his squad position, which is a minuscule amount of playing time considering he is a talented individual, who thrives on confidence. 

He needs to be starting weekly, so being loaned out is one option Wenger must consider.

3. Jordon Mutch

Jamie McDonald/Getty Images

Queens Park Rangers' English central midfielder Jordon Mutch, 23, went from one of the Premier League's rising stars to an afterthought.

He is goalless in 358 minutes of play at QPR, whereas he scored seven times and registered five assists for relegated Cardiff City last season.

He needs a free role if he is to replicate his Cardiff productivity.

2. Jan Oblak

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Atletico Madrid's Slovenian goalkeeper Jan Oblak, 21, is the most expensive goalkeeper in La Liga history and a once-in-a-generation talent.

Yet, he has failed to displace Miguel Angel Moya.

Oblak is too good to be a backup and needs to be receiving regular playing time to ensure he continues to develop.

1. Richairo Zivkovic

Ajax's Dutch centre-forward Richairo Zivkovic, 18, should be playing in the Eredivisie rather than the Eerste Divisie for Jong Ajax.

Having scored 11 goals for Groningen in the Eredivisie last season, it should not be a surprise that he has scored 13 goals in 14 Eerste Divisie games for Jong Ajax.

Either promote him into Ajax's starting XI, or loan him to a mid-tier Eredivisie club.

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