Davis says loan players can add quality to any lower league team

Steve Davis has told the club’s official web-site that he will again look to the loan market to see if he can bolster his squad with quality players. The Alex boss has enjoyed great success with loan captures such as Chuks Aneke, Jamie Ness, Alan Tate and Uche Ikpeazu over the last couple of seasons.

Nicky Ajose finished as the club’s leading scorer last season with 9 goals after joining on loan from Leeds United and Greg Leigh made the most appearances as a loan player in the entire Football League. Leigh, on loan from Manchester City featured in 42 games for the club last season.

Davis admits that the loan market is a way for Football League clubs to improve their teams with Premier League youngsters and Championship players, who are struggling to make the senior squad on a regular basis.

The Crewe boss told crewealex.net: “We would like to get two or three players in on a permanent basis, who would make a difference to us, but I also think the loan market is important for lower league clubs.

“It is the only way we will be able to bring in some quality players for a fraction of their wages. I think it is important to do both if you can because there is no way we would have been able to afford to bring in Ajose, Ness or Tate on the wages they earn at their clubs. We were asked to pay only a proportion of that and I think they all helped us at various times.

The boss added: “I think the loan players can be a great help and that has been the case over the last couple of seasons with Chuks also doing really well for us. Of course, you would like them to be your own players but sometimes you have to be realistic and use what is available to you to improve the team.”