Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

Bigbee said:
did he fall out of favour towards the end of the season ? Somone posted they hope he learnt his lesson .
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I think there were enough experienced players fit that he wasn't needed even on a 9 man bench - the level of bench cover available was a lot higher in may than it was a couple of months earlier. Either that or there was an injury issue.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

Jay Bee said:
I think there were enough experienced players fit that he wasn't needed even on a 9 man bench…
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I’d say it was exactly that. Those last few games required our most experienced players on the bench.

I really can’t understand the automatic send him out on loan when he’s a player on a defined development pathway, he’s still got a lot to learn about our evolving style of play and is a potential game-changer at the business end of next season.
 
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Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

jlove said:
I really can’t understand the automatic send him out on loan when he’s a player on a defined development pathway, he’s still got a lot to learn about our evolving style of play and is a potential game-changer at the business end of next season.
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It's true it must be a difficult decision for the club on any young player.
You only have to look at the recent posts on the Gustavo Nunes thread and see he kept sitting on Swansea's bench and you think, is he having the best time there and would he learn more about our way of playing by just training with us. Would Romelle be the same....Who knows :confused:

On the other hand any loan that appears to go well is automatically the "right decision"
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

Jay Bee said:
It's true it must be a difficult decision for the club on any young player.
You only have to look at the recent posts on the Gustavo Nunes thread and see he kept sitting on Swansea's bench and you think, is he having the best time there and would he learn more about our way of playing by just training with us. Would Romelle be the same....Who knows :confused:

On the other hand any loan that appears to go well is automatically the "right decision"
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Swansea changed Manager and he ended up playing 2nd fiddle to a Sth. Korean international. It can always be argued that any experience is a learning experience…
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

There aren't many loans that he would necessarily benefit from. One that might fit the bill, if Summerville is off, is West Ham. Despite their relegation they historically have done well with young players. I imagine they will need to balance the books without damaging their chances of promotion so he'd be a useful rotation option in probably a top 6 team.

Though I'd rather he stay, play in the cup games and challenge for first team.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

JANORAK said:
Swansea changed Manager and he ended up playing 2nd fiddle to a Sth. Korean international. It can always be argued that any experience is a learning experience…
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The Swansea manager has been in post since Nov 2025 and Nunes was a January loan there.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

If he goes on loan it means his progress has stalled IMO. He should be in the first team squad next year.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

jlove said:
I really can’t understand the automatic send him out on loan when he’s a player on a defined development pathway, he’s still got a lot to learn about our evolving style of play and is a potential game-changer at the business end of next season.
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It might be outdated but let's not over-think it - it's not that difficult to understand, we've all seen a million players benefit from regular game-time.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

Mr Tree said:
It might be outdated but let's not over-think it - it's not that difficult to understand, we've all seen a million players benefit from regular game-time.
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I'm struggling to think of ANY of our players that have gone out on loan, improved dramatically, and then secured a spot in our first team. Certainly can't be many.

I'd much rather players like Donovan get the cup games and last-20-minutes of games here than disappear off somewhere never to be seen again!
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

LongLostBee said:
I'm struggling to think of ANY of our players that have gone out on loan, improved dramatically, and then secured a spot in our first team. Certainly can't be many.

I'd much rather players like Donovan get the cup games and last-20-minutes of games here than disappear off somewhere never to be seen again!
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Not while we were in the PL no. Diagouraga is probably the best example from relatively recently before that.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

LongLostBee said:
I'm struggling to think of ANY of our players that have gone out on loan, improved dramatically, and then secured a spot in our first team. Certainly can't be many.

I'd much rather players like Donovan get the cup games and last-20-minutes of games here than disappear off somewhere never to be seen again!
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Well I can think of one shining example, Toumani Diagouraga. Also both Mads Roerslev and Frank Onyeka benefited from loans and returned to first team action.
However I think Romelle would benefit from staying with us until at least January. If he hasn't secured regular cup appearances and game time off the bench in league games by that stage then a loan might be a good option.
 
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Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

LongLostBee said:
I'm struggling to think of ANY of our players that have gone out on loan, improved dramatically, and then secured a spot in our first team. Certainly can't be many.

I'd much rather players like Donovan get the cup games and last-20-minutes of games here than disappear off somewhere never to be seen again!
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Yes, hence "it might be outdated". But i was answering a point where the poster could not even comprehend why some thought he'd benefit from a loan. Players improve by playing - it's not a mad idea :)
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

brentford born & bred said:
Well I can think of one shining example, Toumani Diagouraga. Also both Mads Roerslev and Frank Onyeka benefited from loans and returned to first team action.
However I think Romelle would benefit from staying with us until at least January. If he hasn't secured regular cup appearances and game time off the bench in league games by that stage then a loan might be a good option.
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I think Toumani is really the only recent valid example of a loan potentially improving a Brentford player (and I think even that is pretty debatable - it was only 8 games - we should hire their miracle working coaches if the development was that quick in that time!).

Don't think Onyeka really counts, as he hasn't come back into our first team, and his case for getting in the team is exactly the same as it was before he left (hindsight or not, I think it was a mistake to loan him, and we could have benefited from him once Janelt+Hendo got injured, although not really hindsight, as I'm pretty certain I said I'd prefer he wasn't loaned out, at the time).

Also Roerslev went on loan and then never played a game for us again! That's a shining example of the opposite of the point!

Just to be clear, I'm not arguing that game time doesn't matter, but imo I think we should play our "nearly-men" a bit more, and if lots of them are much further away than that, we're probably missing the mark with our non-marquee signings.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

Don’t have anything to back this up but I’ve always felt like he’s too small to play significant minutes for us on the wing under Andrews. We tend to sign or play attackers who can win in the air and have a physical presence. Feel like he’ll be a 20-30 min cameo player otherwise. Nothing wrong with that either, just think he might be up against it based on that.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

ChrisSmith1992 said:
Don’t have anything to back this up but I’ve always felt like he’s too small to play significant minutes for us on the wing under Andrews. We tend to sign or play attackers who can win in the air and have a physical presence. Feel like he’ll be a 20-30 min cameo player otherwise. Nothing wrong with that either, just think he might be up against it based on that.
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I think that's more valid about Nunes than Donovan!
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

Bee(h)Iver said:
There aren't many loans that he would necessarily benefit from. One that might fit the bill, if Summerville is off, is West Ham. Despite their relegation they historically have done well with young players. I imagine they will need to balance the books without damaging their chances of promotion so he'd be a useful rotation option in probably a top 6 team.

Though I'd rather he stay, play in the cup games and challenge for first team.
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I'd rather we keep Romelle next season but I'm tickled by the idea of us sending our promising youngsters out on loan to West Ham for experience. It would be worth it for what I believe the younger generation call 'the Lolz' 😁

We've come a long way since Scott Canham.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

Old B said:
Every time I see Liverpool’s little starlet I’m reminded we have our own. Slot had the faith to use his man (albeit sparingly), hope Romelle gets an opportunity to demonstrate his skills next season.
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This
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

Old B said:
Every time I see Liverpool’s little starlet I’m reminded we have our own. Slot had the faith to use his man (albeit sparingly), hope Romelle gets an opportunity to demonstrate his skills next season.
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And Arsenal have started to give minutes to their young forward to... Now just 16.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

LongLostBee said:
I think Toumani is really the only recent valid example of a loan potentially improving a Brentford player (and I think even that is pretty debatable - it was only 8 games - we should hire their miracle working coaches if the development was that quick in that time!).

Don't think Onyeka really counts, as he hasn't come back into our first team, and his case for getting in the team is exactly the same as it was before he left (hindsight or not, I think it was a mistake to loan him, and we could have benefited from him once Janelt+Hendo got injured, although not really hindsight, as I'm pretty certain I said I'd prefer he wasn't loaned out, at the time).

Also Roerslev went on loan and then never played a game for us again! That's a shining example of the opposite of the point!

Just to be clear, I'm not arguing that game time doesn't matter, but imo I think we should play our "nearly-men" a bit more, and if lots of them are much further away than that, we're probably missing the mark with our non-marquee signings.
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Stuart Dallas was another and possible Forss, but can't think of many, certainly since our promotion. However, maybe yet to come.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

LongLostBee said:
I'm struggling to think of ANY of our players that have gone out on loan, improved dramatically, and then secured a spot in our first team. Certainly can't be many.

I'd much rather players like Donovan get the cup games and last-20-minutes of games here than disappear off somewhere never to be seen again!
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Carl Asaba went on loan to Colchester, came back a much improved
player for us, scored 23 goals. We just failed to get promotion 😕.
Went to Reading for £800,000
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

allanfinnie said:
Carl Asaba went on loan to Colchester, came back a much improved
player for us, scored 23 goals. We just failed to get promotion 😕.
Went to Reading for £800,000
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You have a considerably better memory than me!
(Although technically, that’s nothing to be proud of, as I’m not sure what I had for lunch)
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

I can understand why some people are disappointed that RD isn't staying and getting more game time. We all would love to see a young Bees player develop and progress into a top premier league star. And we've all had that Championship Manager moment when we've don't it without loan appearances for someone else.

And RD certainly has that little bit of stardust and is exciting to watch. Hopefully he really has what it takes to become the player we hope he will be.

The number of players who go straight from being a mercurial teen to having a long, successful professional career is very small. Their are countless cases of kids who have shown plenty of promise when first thrust into the limelight who have quickly faded into obscurity through overplaying or the weight of expectations. Brentford have wisely (IMHO) not gone down this route and have given RD a structured route to first team football without unnecessary pressure. It's difficult enough for a kid to reach the level he has without burdoning him further.

There was a comment in the transfer thread about our players in the past not setting the PL alight after playing in the Championship, mentioning Benrahma for example. I'd like to add Ollie Watkins, Ivan Toney, Bryan Mbeumo, Christian Norgaard, Vitaly Janely, David Raya and Ethan Pinnock amongst others who also played in the championship and then struggled to make it at the top level. Oh, wait...

You could also aregue that players such as Harry Kane, Michael Olise, Ebe Eze, Jude Bellingham and aAmie Vardy also failed to kick-on from their Championship (or lower) appearances.

We don't know how successful this loan will, or if one day RD will be scaring the living daylights out PL defenses wearing a Bees shirt. But to turn around and say he's done with us because he's gone on loan to Sheffield United is at best insulting to some of best ever players and also very, very shortsighted.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

Good luck Romelle. Come back better, faster, stronger and with a ton of minutes under your belt.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

Bee(h)Iver said:
I can understand why some people are disappointed that RD isn't staying and getting more game time. We all would love to see a young Bees player develop and progress into a top premier league star. And we've all had that Championship Manager moment when we've don't it without loan appearances for someone else.

And RD certainly has that little bit of stardust and is exciting to watch. Hopefully he really has what it takes to become the player we hope he will be.

The number of players who go straight from being a mercurial teen to having a long, successful professional career is very small. Their are countless cases of kids who have shown plenty of promise when first thrust into the limelight who have quickly faded into obscurity through overplaying or the weight of expectations. Brentford have wisely (IMHO) not gone down this route and have given RD a structured route to first team football without unnecessary pressure. It's difficult enough for a kid to reach the level he has without burdoning him further.

There was a comment in the transfer thread about our players in the past not setting the PL alight after playing in the Championship, mentioning Benrahma for example. I'd like to add Ollie Watkins, Ivan Toney, Bryan Mbeumo, Christian Norgaard, Vitaly Janely, David Raya and Ethan Pinnock amongst others who also played in the championship and then struggled to make it at the top level. Oh, wait...

You could also aregue that players such as Harry Kane, Michael Olise, Ebe Eze, Jude Bellingham and aAmie Vardy also failed to kick-on from their Championship (or lower) appearances.

We don't know how successful this loan will, or if one day RD will be scaring the living daylights out PL defenses wearing a Bees shirt. But to turn around and say he's done with us because he's gone on loan to Sheffield United is at best insulting to some of best ever players and also very, very shortsighted.
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Agree, it is also insulting to the management team in BFC who have made this decision. They are miles better placed and knowlegable than anyone else on here to make this choice, and we have to support them in this process. There is no guarantee that it will work out how we want it to but if it does not it will be because RD is not good enough. I personally dont understand the issue with RD going out on loan that some posters have on here, because he will only get limited game time with us next season if he stays. RD needs to develop further.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

Kingston Bee said:
Agree, it is also insulting to the management team in BFC who have made this decision. They are miles better placed and knowlegable than anyone else on here to make this choice, and we have to support them in this process. There is no guarantee that it will work out how we want it to but if it does not it will be because RD is not good enough. I personally dont understand the issue with RD going out on loan that some posters have on here, because he will only get limited game time with us next season if he stays. RD needs to develop further.
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Completely agree.
Some people were so blown away by him looking decent against Grimsby and Sheffield Wednesday, they wanted him in straight in the team instead of Dango back in January.

The club work with him every day and seem to have taken a slow and steady approach to his development, hence the odd cameos off the bench (but not every single time we needed a goal) and the cup minutes, and now this loan. I had imagined he might get an increased first team squad role this season, but this is also fine.

As someone said in the transfer forum thread, he left Birmingham because he wasn't promised/sure of minutes for Birmingham in the Championship last season. He is now going to get the opportunity he wanted then, if he's up to earning his place at SU, and he's a year older and wiser.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

I’m not sure if it has already been mentioned (and apologies if it has), but I had overlooked that KA had previously worked with Chris Wilder at SU so no doubt Romelle is going there with complete confidence in getting him the best outcome for his development as far as BFC is concerned.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

Blimey what a city for football - 2 massive clubs with no money
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

He might struggle to start games ahead of Chong this season
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

Chong has done his hamstring, by the looks - Romelle gets on!
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

Old-time manager on Colin Murray’s R5 show this morning. Parkinson? Saying the hardest league to get right for loaning your youngsters, is the Championship.
Hence lots actually miss it, ie NL, L2, L1 then PL. Or not, and get sold or let go to their level.
 

Romelle Donovan (on loan to Sheffield United)

He's not getting much of the ball , he beat the LB once easily first half , that about it
 
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