End-of-seaon loan watch

Youngsters Luke Amos and Will Miller are with the senior squad in Hong Kong this week, having picked up some vital experience of first team football in 2016-17.

Defensive midfielder Luke, 20, appeared as a second-half substitute for Southend United on the last day of the League One season at the end of April, his side registering a 1-0 win at home to Bury, although they ultimately missed out on a spot in the play-offs. He also started in a 2-1 defeat at Charlton Athletic earlier that month, meaning he made three appearances for the Shrimpers in total since linking up with them in January.

Attacking midfielder Will, meanwhile, had to be patient in waiting for his opportunities at Burton Albion in the latter months of the campaign, but came back into the side on the final day of the Championship season on May 7, supplying one assist before being substituted 12 minutes from time in an eventual 4-2 home defeat by Reading. It took the 20-year-old’s total number of appearances for Burton to 16 in all competitions with his side securing their Championship status towards the end of the campaign.

Luke and Will are not the only youngsters at the club to have enjoyed loan spells this season.

Goalkeeper Luke McGee played all but two of Peterborough United’s games since linking up with the League One side at the end of August. He played six matches to round off the season in April – a 2-0 home win over Charlton, 1-0 away defeat to Coventry City, 2-1 home loss to Fleetwood Town, goalless stalemate at AFC Wimbledon, 4-2 home win over Bristol Rovers – in which he saved a penalty – and 3-0 defeat at Bolton Wanderers. In total he made 45 appearances for the Posh in all competitions as they finished 11th in League One.

Versatile defensive player Anton Walkes remains on loan with MLS new boys Atlanta United. His most recent outing for them came when he went on as a half-time substitute in a 2-1 away defeat to Montreal Impact last month. He’s since been on the bench for away matches against New York City and Portland Timbers. Atlanta host New York City on Sunday night.

Back in the UK, left-back Connor Ogilvie and striker Ryan Loft spent the second half of the 2016-17 campaign on loan at Stevenage. Connor was ever-present in the closing weeks of the season as the Hertfordshire side registered a 1-0 home win over Barnet, 4-0 loss at Colchester United, 1-0 home defeat by Morecambe, 1-1 draw at Carlisle United, 1-0 reverse at home to Mansfield Town, 1-1 draw at Yeovil Town and 3-0 home loss to Accrington Stanley, meaning he made 18 appearances for them in total.

Ryan was introduced off the bench in the second half against Morecambe and Carlisle, taking his total number of appearances to nine.

Stevenage’s match against Yeovil saw another of our lads involved, with striker Shayon Harrison on the bench for the Glovers. He continued to feature regularly for his side in the closing weeks of the season, starting in a 2-0 home defeat to Carlisle and 2-0 loss at Colchester on the final day of the campaign, in addition to making substitute appearances in away matches against Newport County (1-0 loss) and Grimsby Town (4-2 defeat). In total he made 15 appearances for Yeovil, scoring once.

Elsewhere in Europe, defender Federico Fazio played 47 times for Italian giants Roma, notably scoring in a 3-0 win at Bologna last month, while attacker Clinton Njie took his total number of matches for French outfit Marseille to 23 with a final day substitute appearance in a 1-0 home win over SC Bastia. He also featured against Dijon (1-1 home draw), Saint-Etienne (4-0 home win) and AS Nancy (0-0 away draw) in recent weeks.

Nabil Bentaleb, on loan at FC Schalke 04 before joining them permanently this summer, completed the season having played 44 times for the German side.