Roberto Martinez calls for rule change on loan deals

Everton manager Roberto Martinez wants a rule change that would allow loan players to play against their parent clubs.

The Spaniard has made good use of the loan market in his first season in charge at Goodison Park, with the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Gerard Deulofeu and Gareth Barry all impressing for the Merseyside club.

Martinez will be without Barry on Saturday, though, with the midfielder forced to sit out against parent club Manchester City due to the terms of his loan deal.

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The former Wigan manager feels that this Premier League regulation should be reconsidered, citing Thibaut Courtois’s availability for Atletico Madrid’s Champions League semi-final with Chelsea as an example of a player being allowed to turn out against his permanent employers.

“When you reach an agreement to allow a player to go, he should be allowed to play,” Martinez told the press.

“I don’t see a healthy way to treat a loan in not allowing a player to play against a parent club.

“The fairest way is to see what we’ve seen in the European competition, to see a player fully focused on the team that he is [playing for] and then, at the end of the season, it will be a matter of reassessing the situation.

“The loans are a real need in the modern game for different reasons. It’s a very interesting debate and something that should be looked at.

“We shouldn’t have two different rules in different competitions. I think the domestic laws should be the same as the European laws in that respect.”

Roberto Martinez calls for rule change on loan deals