Manchester United have sent Ethan Wheatley out on loan to Walsall until the end of this season.
This month there has been a clear effort from Ineos to send youngsters out on loan.
Ethan Ennis has gone to Doncaster Rovers, additionally, Joe Hugill has headed to Carlisle and Ethan Williams also went on loan to Cheltenham.
Ethan Wheatley is one player who desperately needed to leave Manchester United and get first-team experience. Wheatley joined Walsall on loan five days ago and yet already has played twice.
Wheatley made a cameo at the weekend during a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Bradford, in which he barely had a sniff of goal.
Now, Wheatley has had his first start.
Ethan Wheatley struggles for Walsall
On Tuesday night, Wheatey was named in the starting line-up for Walsall as they looked to bounce back from defeat at the weekend.
However, it was more misery as Fleetwood Town won 2-0 with two first-half goals – despite league-leading Walsall being by far the better side.
Here is how Wheatley performed on his first-ever senior start.
- 68 minutes
- 2 shots
- 3/4 passes
- 0.07 expected goals
- 16 touches
- 1/1 dribbles
- 1/1 tackles
- 2 clearances
- 4 defensive actions
- 3/10 duels won
One obvious observation from the game is that Wheatley got next to no services and was barely involved in the game which is a problem.
This should change when Walsall get back in form, but it will be all too familiar for Wheatley – considering his cameos and pre-season first-team appearances for United saw him struggle to get involved.
United are guilty of failing to create for the striker even with big-money names up top – so Wheatley will be hoping Walsall kick back into gear at the weekend and he gets chances to get his first goal.
Three Manchester United loanees in action
Wheatley was the 250th United academy graduate, but he wasn’t the only loanee who was in action on Tuesday,
Joe Hugill started his third game in a row for Carlisle and it was game three without a goal. In a 1-0 loss to Notts County Hugill had the fewest touches of any outfield player (to play 90 minutes) with 25.
Despite five shots and 0.34 expected goals, Hugill failed to score, hitting the post and missing one big chance.
Elsewhere, Williams clashed with Sonny Aljofree as Cheltenham drew 0-0 with Accrington Stanley. Williams got 29 minutes in which he struggled but did get involved winning three duels and completing a dribble.
Aljofree meanwhile was a shining light for Accrington in defence.
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