The 8 Arsenal players out on loan in 2024-25 & how they’ve been faring
Arsenal are currently flying under Mikel Arteta – but is the same true of those players sent out on loan?
The club hierarchy decided to send eight players on loan back in August, either to continue their development with a professional team or give them first-team football away from the Emirates as they’re not in Arteta’s plans.
Enough of the season has now passed for us to make an early assessment of how they’re faring out on loan.
Marquinhos
Marquinhos initially justified Arteta’s decision to promote him to the first-team with a goal and assist in a Europa League win over FC Zurich in 2022.
But it’s fair to say he’s been somewhat forgotten since.
After underwhelming loan spells with Nantes and Norwich City, the winger returned to his native Brazil in February and signed for Fluminese until the end of 2024.
Marquinhos enjoyed regular action in the past eight months with 25 appearances, although two goals and two assists in that time is a disappointing return.
It’s hard to see how he will stay at Arsenal in the long term.
Albert Sambi Lokonga
Arriving at Arsenal as a promising youngster in 2021, Lokonga failed to make a compelling case to break into Arteta’s starting XI and spent last season at Luton Town.
With the Hatters falling into the Championship, Lokonga is now plying his trade at Sevilla but a pair of hamstring injuries have restricted him to three appearances so far.
Happily, one of those came in the derby win over Real Betis and there’s every chance the midfielder will kick on over the coming months.
Nuno Tavares
Forget his often hapless displays for Arsenal; Tavares is a player reborn since arriving at Lazio over the summer and proudly holds the title of Serie A assist king.
The full-back has five assists in Italy, more than any other player in Serie A, registering two in a 2-2 draw with AC Milan before setting up strikes against Fiorentina, Torino and Empoli.
Tavares will stay at Lazio if certain conditions are met next summer and they’ll be eager to snap him up if the defender maintains his current form.
Jack Henry-Francis
Henry-Francis is on loan at Sligo Rovers until the end of the Irish season in November. The 20-year-old midfielder has been a regular with our Under-21s side over the past two seasons and has made seven appearances for Rovers since his move in July.
Regarded highly by Arsenal’s coaches, the defensive midfielder has a bright future in the game.
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Karl Hein
After extending his Gunners’ contract over the summer, Hein has moved to La Liga and joined newly-promoted Real Valladolid for the current season.
The Estonian goalkeeper kept a clean sheet on his debut in a 1-0 triumph over Espanyol, but he has since conceded 19 goals in eight matches, including seven in one game against Barcelona.
No team has conceded more often, as Hein’s side sit 19th in the La Liga table with just five points on the board. Room for improvement, then.
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Charles Sagoe Jr
Sagoe Jr was a surprise starter in Arsenal’s League Cup win over Brentford last season, but is very much on the fringes of the first team and has joined Shrewsbury Town on loan for the 2024-25 campaign.
The 20-year-old winger has already made nine appearances for the League One side, but he is still waiting for his first goal or assist for the third-tier strugglers.
Sagoe Jr was also an unused substitute in Shrewsbury’s only win of the season so far, a 3-0 beating of Leyton Orient in late August. Pain.
Fabio Vieira
Vieira was welcomed back to Porto with open arms two years after his permanent exit, but the Portuguese playmaker is yet to reignite his career in his homeland.
Indeed, Vieira has only made three substitute appearances for Porto so far – totalling just 54 minutes – having struggled with a muscular problem in his first few weeks back.
He came off the bench in Porto’s thrilling 3-3 draw with Manchester United in the Europa League, but has done little to suggest Arteta was incorrect to loan him out this season.
Reiss Nelson
Joining Bernd Leno, Alex Iwobi and Emile Smith Rowe at Craven Cottage, Nelson made the temporary switch to Fulham after a forgettable 2023-24 campaign.
Largely frozen out of the Arsenal squad despite signing a new contract, he’s hit the ground running and registered two goals and one assist in his first five appearances for the Cottagers.
Adama Traore is keeping him out of Marco Silva’s first XI for now, but Nelson is in the kind of form to give the Fulham boss a decision to make.