The football season has well and truly begun and that means Tottenham Hotspur have loan players out and about learning their trade in the Football League and in Europe.
For some young players they are looking to take their first steps on the professional football ladder, others are continuing their journey and for some they are hoping to seal a permanent move in the future. So far four Tottenham players have stepped out on loan for this campaign in the Football League, France and Sweden with more set to follow them in the weeks ahead.
Here is how the four young players got on this week away from Antonio Conte's nest.
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Joe Rodon
The 24-year-old Wales international sealed his loan move to French side Rennes last week with a €20million (£16.8m) option to buy him permanently. The Ligue 1 outfit are one of the most heavily scouted teams in Europe, along with Ajax, because of their development and recruitment of young stars of the future and Joe Rodon will be hoping to add his name to that long list.
The Welshman straight away made his debut on Sunday in Rennes' 1-0 defeat at home to Lorient, starting the match and playing the full 90 minutes. Ahead of the game, Rennes coach Bruno Genesio had said of Rodon: "He trained all week with [fellow newcomer] Arthur Theate and Loïc Badé. He seems ready to me but we know that we need matches to test their association. They are players who have a little maturity and they know how to adapt."
Upon Rodon's unveiling, Olivier Cloarec, Rennes' general manager, said: "He is a player who has a lot of desire and who is happy to arrive in Rennes. He will bring aggression in our defence. It was one of the points that we wanted to improve compared to last season. Joe fulfils all the criteria of the profile sought. As an international, he needs to play. He also contributed a lot to the qualification of Wales for the World Cup. He is a true leader on the field.
The club's technical director Florian Maurice added: "Joe comes from a top club in England. He will bring us his experience, even if he did not play all the matches last season. He played in the European Cup, as we have seen at Roazhon Park in particular. He's a real central defender who likes to defend, he has that aggressive side that we need to allow us to be even more effective defensively.
"He is an international, a starter with Wales and will certainly be called up to play in the World Cup in November. It went very quickly, there was no hesitation. He was enthusiastic about the Rennes project. He was there a few months ago to play against us and he was able to discover our team, the football we played and he was interested."
Troy Parrott
Troy Parrott played his second match for Preston North End at the weekend, getting 90 minutes under his belt as the Championship side drew 0-0 at home to Hull City, having had the same result at Wigan the previous weekend. Preston's match highlights from the latest draw were pretty much a highlight reel for 20-year-old Parrott as he looked sharp, fashioning chances for himself and his new team-mates with his movement and skill on the ball, but just lacking that finishing touch.
Lancs Live gave Parrott a six in their player ratings with the review: "Was busy once again up top and the main goal threat in the second half. Tested the goalkeeper with a left foot drive, saw another deflect behind for a corner and also ran 1v1 but couldn't squeeze his effort in. Delayed the shot a little bit too long perhaps. Needs that first goal to set him on his way."
Preston boss Ryan Lowe said after the game: "Troy’s in there [in the dressing room], he’s disappointed, but I told him when I signed him he’d get loads of chances, we create chances for him to score and he will score them. I’m a big believer in him and Emil [Riis]. Today it was just not quite there, that quality, but I’m sure they’ll get it."
He added: "We'll work with them on a daily basis, those type of finishes, but the good thing as a striker, when you’re creating chances and you get the chances, that’s a good sign. When you’re not getting chances and you’re creating any chances, that isn’t a good sign.
"I want them to be disappointed but I don’t want them to be too down, I want them to make sure that they do what’s required and eventually once one goes in, they’ll hopefully get two, three, four and they’ll get on a little wave of scoring a few goals and that’s what I want."
Dane Scarlett
The 18-year-old striker got another substitute appearance under his belt for Portsmouth in League One on Saturday. Dane Scarlett is enjoying his first experience of life away from Tottenham and after his 16 minutes last weekend in the 3-3 draw at Sheffield United, this time he bumped that up to 28 minutes in the second half in the goalless game at home against Lincoln City.
Scarlett got a six in Portsmouth News' player ratings with the write-up: "Replaced Joe Pigott on 62 minutes. Drew a save from Carl Rushworth and a couple of neat touches." The teenage striker will be looking to build on his two substitute performances with his first league start in the weeks ahead.
Alfie Whiteman
The 23-year-old goalkeeper has been out on loan, back at Swedish side Degerfors since before the Allsvenskan season began in April. He has racked up 15 appearances so far and on Saturday played in the 2-0 defeat at Norrkoping, conceding a goal in either half.
Whiteman helped keep Degerfors up last season with a dramatic final day escape and this campaign the club are back down near the bottom again, 14th in the 16 team league and just one point ahead of basement boys Sundsvall.
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