THE transfer window regulations imposed on the domestic game by UEFA and FIFA have forced clubs to consider taking more players on loan.
It's a valuable device for clubs but loan players can bring problems as well as benefits to the clubs who sign them, as we have seen in recent weeks.
Some loan players should come with the warning "handle with care".
They often have higher expectations about their rights to a place in the team and don't react well to being left out of the starting line-up by their temporary employers.
Being released on loan means, by implication, that they are currently surplus to requirements at their own club, so they can take it badly if they suffer a second rejection by being dropped while on loan.
A good example of this was the case of Laurent Robert, who is on a season-long loan to Portsmouth from Newcastle United.
Robert refused to sit on the substitutes' bench in Portsmouth's game at Sunderland 12 days ago after being told by the manager, Alain Perrin, he was not going to be in the starting line-up.
The Frenchman later apologised to the Portsmouth board, Perrin and the fans and was fined two weeks' wages for "lack of communication".
Would a permanent signing for Portsmouth have acted in the same way? Probably not.
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