“I don’t think you should be reliant upon them”: Morecambe manager’s thoughts on loan players
Morecambe’s new manager has shared his thoughts on the possibility of using loan players to strengthen his squad.
Adam Lakeland doesn’t want to become too dependent on loan signings when building his Morecambe squad for next season.
The Shrimps boss has five players at his disposal after the club’s retained list confirmed that 21 squad members - three loanees and 18 permanent squad signings - would be departing this summer.
Having told the club’s recent fans’ forum about his preference to have a squad of between 20 and 23 on the books, Lakeland outlined his thoughts on loan players.
He said: “I think loan players can be useful but I don’t think you should be reliant upon them.
“We prefer to have our own players, I think the loan market’s there to be utilised if you need to delve into it but there’s the risk if they’re performing well, their parent club might take them back and put them into their team or move them higher.
“Having quite a lot of younger players, what the game looks like at Premier League, EFL level in U21 programmes, it’s completely different to what National League and National League North football looks like and not all of those players can adapt to it.
“I think we’ve had some real success stories of lads we’ve taken from various clubs on loan who have come in and done great for us but then we’ve had a few that haven’t been able to deal with it.
“It’s not something I want to be overly reliant on but every club needs a loan at some stage, so it’s something you’ve got to utilise but only as and when you need to.”
Whoever comes in over the summer, however, won’t be just assessed on their footballing credentials.
A player’s personality will be just as important with the Shrimps looking to build a promotion-winning squad.
“We look at a person first,” said Sam Walker, Lakeland’s assistant.
“We want quality, we want good players, but what are they like character-wise?
“We take our time, we get character references, but it’s something we work hard at together.
“We both throw names up: sometimes there’ll be pros, sometimes there’ll be cons, but we do collaborate quite well with that.”