Many of our men’s, women’s and academy players have been sent out on loan this season to gain experience and further action.
Brentford have played twice in the past week, which has given opportunities to Reiss Nelson - who started in the Bees’ 2-0 victory at Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup third round. Reiss played 70 minutes at Hillsborough and was unlucky not to score on several occasions, having brushed the post late on when coming on as a substitute for the final nine minutes of their midweek 3-0 Premier League win over Sunderland.
Oleksandr Zinchenko was another Gunners loanee in FA Cup action, as he started for Nottingham Forest in their pulsating tie at Wrexham on Friday. The Ukrainian featured for 45 minutes in north Wales, though Forest were eventually eliminated on penalties having recovered from two goals down to draw 3-3.
Porto lead the Liga Portugal with a superb defensive record which has witnessed just four goals conceded in 17 games, Jakub Kiwior at the heart of it. The Polish international is next in action on Wednesday night in the Taca de Portugal quarter-finals, where his side take on bitter adversaries Benfica at the Estadio do Dragao.
The Bundesliga returned from its winter break over the weekend, bringing Fabio Vieira back into action with Hamburg. The Portuguese midfielder played 79 minutes for the 10-man side as they were edged out 2-1 at Freiburg. Elsewhere in Germany, Karl Hein and Werder Bremen are back from their festive lay-off with a tricky trip to Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night.
The FA Cup third round provided tests for a further Gunner out on loan, with Ismeal Kabia given the full match by Shrewsbury Town as the League Two outfit’s journey ended at Premier League opposition in Wolverhampton Wanderers. Shrewsbury will refocus on their league survival battle, and sit level on points with Crawley Town, to whom we have this week loaned youngster Louie Copley. Crawley and Shrewsbury are each next in action next Saturday.
Harrison Dudziak played the full 90 minutes in the National League on Saturday afternoon as Braintree Town battled to a goalless draw with Boston United at Cressing Road. Fellow National League side Morecambe have now bid farewell to Maldini Kacurri as he returns to north London, following a successful loan period in the first half of the campaign which saw the defender earn Player of the Month awards in both November and December.
There has been some significant loan movement concerning Arsenal Women over recent days, with Jessie Gale’s excellent spell at Portsmouth coming to a close, having now joined Bristol City on a loan deal. Jessie wasted no time in making her mark, scoring a debut goal to round off a 4-2 victory away at Nottingham Forest as the WSL 2 returned on Sunday. Fellow Arsenal loanee Vivienne Lia was part of the Forest squad for the contest, and was an unused substitute.
Rosa Kafaji started for Brighton & Hove Albion in the WSL at Aston Villa on Sunday, playing 61 minutes of a narrow 2-1 defeat. Fellow Seagulls loanee Michelle Agyemang remains in rehabilitation from a long-term ligament injury. Brighton’s opponents Villa have now signed Jenna Nighswonger from the Gunners on loan for the remainder of the campaign, though the American full-back did not feature in Sunday’s showdown.
There was unfortunately no return to the pitch this weekend for Madison Earl, as her Ipswich Town side’s WSL 2 contest with Charlton Athletic was postponed due to a frozen playing surface.
Cecily Wellesley-Smith and Naomi Williams, having spent the first half of 2025/26 on loan at Leicester City and Bristol City respectively, have since returned to Arsenal.
[Read more
Wellesley-Smith and Williams return from loan](https://www.arsenal.com/news/cecily-and-naomi-return-loan-spells?utm_source=arsenaldotcom&utm_medium=embedded-article&utm_campaign=news)
Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.