While Freddie Potts’ rise from Portsmouth fan favourite to West Ham United starter is proof of the benefits a well-placed loan deal can have, there are plenty of examples of where things have not quite gone to plan.
It is fair to say Harry Kane bounced back stronger from a spell at Leicester City in which he scored only twice in 15 matches.
Once so highly rated at Chelsea, Izzy Brown’s development stalled dramatically as he was passed around EFL stalwart to EFL stalwart, eventually hanging up his boots in 2023.
West Ham United’s own Reece Oxford won the Young Hammer of the Year award in 2016, meanwhile, before spending much of 2017 stuck on the bench at Reading. Now with Augsburg in Germany, Oxford has not played a Bundesliga match in three years due to persistent injury problems.
Junior Robinson, of course, will hope to avoid the bad fortune which plagued Oxford, as well as the nomadic lifestyle which prevented Izzy Brown from ever really making a home for himself.
But, a la Kane, the young West Ham right-back is finding out the hard way that a loan move to a club lower down the pyramid is no guarantee of progression.
West Ham United’s Junior Robinson yet to feature at Livingston
A London-born 21-year-old who joined the Hammers academy at the age of six, Robinson felt that the time had arrived to make a foray into the senior game over the summer.
After making nearly 50 appearances for West Ham’s Under-21s, he jumped at the chance to join Scottish Premiership outfit Livingston on deadline day, labelling the West Lothian outfit a ‘great platform’ for him to showcase his talents.
“It is a great platform, playing against loads of good teams,” Robinson said. “It’s really nice, there is literally everything you need here.
“The PL2 is obviously quite technical, but I think the physicality and the pace of the game [in Scotland] will be different. The way we play, we want to get after it and we were similar in PL2, getting after the ball, so I think that will help.
“I’m ready to get stuck in and dig deep.”
Of course, the physicality and the no-nonsense nature of Scottish football is not for everybody. A few years before he was tearing up the right-wing for Manchester United, Amad Diallo was being thrown around like a ragdoll at Rangers.
Mikey Moore, so highly-rated at Tottenham Hotspur, is currently suffering a similar fate at Ibrox. Alex Valle went from Barcelona’s La Masia academy to Serie A high-flyers Como, meanwhile, via a pretty miserable spell with Celtic.
The frustration for Robinson, though, is that he has not even been given the chance to show he can handle the Scottish game.
Robinson has fallen behind World Cup hopeful Joshua Brenet
The diminutive full-back is yet to make his debut for Livingston. And while Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Falkirk means they remain bottom of the table with only eight points from 12 matches, things appear unlikely to change.
Robinson could have been forgiven for feeling shafted, somewhat, when Martindale jumped at the chance to sign the vastly-experienced Josh Brenet on a free transfer less than a month after he touched down at Almondvale.
“Joshua said he always wanted to try Scottish football,” Martindale told the Daily Record.
“If you look at his CV, it is incredible. I was watching his footage seven or eight weeks ago and he was scoring goals for FC Twente in the Dutch top flight.
“Historically, we don’t get this type of player, so I’m delighted to have him in the building.”
Martindale revealed how the legendary Dick Advocaat – now manager of Curacao – had implored him to sign Brenet on a free transfer. The Caribbean nation hope to qualify for the World Cup for the very first time, and their veteran right-back is determined to be there if they do.
Though Robinson and West Ham could be forgiven if they are not quite so emotionally-tied to Brenet’s Curacao story.
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