Ivan Perisic returns and bizarre Troy Parrott red card with ear incident - Tottenham loan latest
While Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham team did not have a good Saturday, some of the players he has sent out on loan had better weekends.
The 2023/24 season is heading into the home straight and Tottenham's large group of loan players are all looking to leave their mark on the clubs they have joined this campaign before decisions are made about their future. Spurs have got players currently out on loan at clubs across England in the Premier League and Football League as well as abroad to countries such as Spain, Turkey, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy.
Eric Dier and Ivan Perisic also went on loan to Bayern Munich and Hajduk Split respectively, the latter now back in action with three substitute appearances following his cruciate ligament injury, including almost half an hour from the bench on Sunday. Both players have agreed to join those clubs permanently this summer when their contracts at the north London club come to an end.
Here's how all of Spurs' other 12 loan players have got on over the past week:
Troy Parrott (Excelsior Rotterdam)
Troy Parrott returned to action after recovering from a quad injury which kept him of Excelsior Rotterdam's past five matches in the Eredivisie, for a performance against Volendam that had everything with a goal, assist and a bizarre red card after the final whistle.
Parrott volleyed an effort over the crossbar around the half hour mark from a tight angle before grabbing a lovely assist for Excelsior's second goal with a guided, flicked on header from a corner that flew to Lazaros Lamprou to slam into the net from close range. The 22-year-old almost netted himself when he latched on to a long kick from his own goalkeeper with a lovely touch but found himself foiled by the Voldendam stopper. He then nearly grabbed an assist moments later as the Rotterdam side ran riot.
Early in the second half Parrott sent a powerful shot just over the crossbar. That goal on his return did eventually come in the 55th minute as he raced clear on to a through ball and guided his placed shot in off the goalkeeper's foot.
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Having just returned from injury, the Republic of Ireland international was taken off in the 68th minute. However, he still had something to bring to the encounter, although it was of no help to Excelsior. After a little scuffle between some players in the centre of the pitch after the final whistle, the referee went to check his pitchside monitor to work out what happened.
He was able to see Parrott walking across the pitch and appear to pull or flick the ear of Volendam player Safouane Karim, who had just been involved in the melee. The Irishman got a straight red card, while Karim received a second yellow card for his part in things.
Excelsior could now lose Parrott for up to three matches after that ear flick through suspension for violent conduct, depending on the verdict of the decision makers.
It was a daft moment from the young striker, who had been excellent on his return from injury and now has eight goals and four assists in 22 matches in the Dutch league.
football.london has previously reported that clubs in Serie A, the Bundesliga and the Championship are monitoring his situation at Spurs. The forward has a contract with Spurs until 2025 and there is understood to be an option within it for the club to extend that by another year.
Alejo Veliz (Sevilla)
Alejo Veliz's unsuccessful loan at Sevilla continued as he missed out on another matchday squad as they won 2-0 on Sunday away against a Las Palmas side that had centre-back Saul Coco sent off after just five minutes.
The 20-year-old striker went in for voluntary training on his day off on Monday, along with former Spurs man Erik Lamela who was an unused substitute in the match, in order to impress the boss.
That La Liga sides can name 12 substitutes on their bench and he's still not making it into some squads in recent months shows how much Veliz must do to catch the eye of his head coach Quique Sanchez Flores.
The young Argentine has played just 23 minutes for Sevilla since joining in the winter transfer window and has not got on the pitch since March 2.
Sergio Reguilon (Brentford)
After his impressive display against Aston Villa, Sergio Reguilon played the full 90 minutes in another fine showing as Brentford picked up a welcome home win against Sheffield United.
The Spaniard was man of the match in WhoScored's stat-based ratings after the game. The 27-year-old left-back touched the ball more than anyone else on the pitch - 76 times - and he played three key passes, won two aerial duels, made one dribble and at the back completed three tackles, one interception, three clearances and blocked one shot.
With a year left on his contract at Tottenham, Reguilon is making his case for a good move in the summer and Brentford may well look to try to keep him if they continue their push away from the drop zone.
Tanguy Ndombele (Galatasaray)
Tanguy Ndombele will be hoping to get some rare game time when Galatasaray make the trip to Alanyaspor on Monday evening.
The Frenchman has had so little game time in Turkey with 449 minutes of Super Lig football and 656 minutes across all competitions in 25 appearances, that there's the very real possibility that Perisic, despite missing most of the season with that cruciate ligament injury, could end up getting more minutes than him if he plays most of the remaining matches for Hajduk Split.
With most of his appearances coming from the bench for Galatasaray as they were for Napoli in Serie A last season, it's been years now since Ndombele was a regular starter at a football club.
Djed Spence (Genoa)
Djed Spence is also hoping for some Monday night football as Genoa make the trip to Fiorentina in Serie A.
The 23-year-old right-back has been used on both flanks since arriving in Italy and that versatility at least offers him the opportunity for more minutes.
Spence has so far played in nine matches in Serie A, getting 455 minutes to his name, which is more than he got across seven appearances at Leeds in the first half of this season and far more than his few Spurs minutes before that.
Joe Rodon (Leeds United)
Joe Rodon could only watch on as Leeds and the rest of the Championship title hopefuls continue to stutter in their quest for promotion.
Leeds and Leicester both lost while Ipswich drew and Rodon was left frustrated by a 1-0 defeat at Elland Road against strugglers Blackburn and on the only black mark in a really solid performance, he was beaten to a header in the build-up to Sammie Szmodics' winning goal.
Leeds Live handed the 26-year-old Wales international a six in their player ratings with the review: "Very solid from the centre-back. Did not have much thrown at him by the Blackburn attack. Mopped up danger and intervened nicely when the team needed him too. A rare loss in the air saw Sam Gallagher flick on the move for the goal."
The defender has played 44 times for Leeds this season as a near ever-present with 3,864 minutes to his name in a busy and mostly successful campaign.
Alfie Devine and Ashley Phillips (Plymouth Argyle)
Leicester's defeat on Friday night in the Championship came at the hands of Plymouth Argyle with Ashley Phillips and Alfie Devine both unused substitutes.
It has been a period of upheaval at Plymouth, who sacked Ian Foster after only appointing him in January, and Foster knew both of the two young Spurs players well from his England youth coaching days.
Japhet Tanganga (Millwall)
Japhet Tanganga had a great week as he played the full 90 minutes in both of Millwall's wins against Leicester in midweek and Cardiff on Saturday.
The 25-year-old has enjoyed a terrific loan spell at Millwall so far and has played nearly every minute for the Championship side to put his injury woes of recent seasons behind him.
In Saturday's 3-1 victory against Cardiff, Tanganga played one key pass, made two tackles and one interception in another solid display. However, he was beaten in the air by Yakou Meite from a free-kick for the visitors' goal.
After a first half to the season with no game time at all at Augsburg, Tanganga has played 15 games for Millwall with 1,282 minutes to his name and has started nearly every match.
Matthew Craig (Doncaster Rovers)
Matthew Craig continues to play a big part in Doncaster Rovers' remarkable form under Grant McCann. A 4-0 victory against Accrington Stanley on Saturday made it eight wins in a row for Rovers in League Two which has swept them up the table to just a point off the play-off spots with three games to go.
Craig played the full 90 minutes at the weekend and the young midfielder got a seven in the player ratings from the Doncaster Free Press with the write-up: "Another classy performance from the loanee. Buzzed about and was tenacious in the tackle."
The 20-year-old Scotland Under-21s international has really impressed on loan and has played 15 times in League Two, with one goal and one assist, and has 1,222 minutes to his name.
Josh Keeley (Barnet)
Josh Keeley, 20, recorded a clean sheet as Barnet won 2-0 at Halifax Town in the National League on Saturday.
The Republic of Ireland U21s goalkeeper will have play-off football to come next month as second-placed Barnet look to win promotion back to the Football League.
Sam Archer (Barton Rovers)
Tottenham's Under-18s goalkeeper Sam Archer's great run of four clean sheets in a row finally came to an end on his short-term work experience loan to get first team exposure with Barton Rovers in Southern League Central Division One.
The 17-year-old has enjoyed an excellent spell at the non-league side but the weekend brought a 3-0 defeat at Cirencester.
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