In his latest rant, Tim Lovejoy of The Sun, has brought up a brilliant point about loaning players, as it has – and will have – major implications on the destination of the highly-coveted Premier League trophy.

Welbeck & Cleverley helped United last year, too

Manchester United has always loaned out some of their younger players to gain invaluable playing time – with Danny Welbeck and Thomas Cleverley coming to mind – but it gives them an unfair competitive advantage in the title race.

Now Tottenham have aided tremendously this season by obtaining the likes of Emanuel Adebayor, as he’s leading goal scorer with nine goals and his influence will be missed against Manchester City when they square up again.

Many managers – Ferguson included – hope that their on-loan players not only play well and get valuable minutes, but also take points off their title rivals. To be honest, there’s no reason whatsoever as to why Adebayor is not on the Spurs’ books.

The Adebayor situation is much, much different than Federico Macheda’s loan move to Queens Park Rangers, as Sir Alex Ferguson is just trying to get him Premier League experience. Kiko is 20-years old and unproven in the Premier League, meanwhile, the full Togo international has played and scored for three different top level clubs. If clubs want to let their out-of-favor players leave on loan, then why not let them play against the parent club?

They should be, as their current is usually paying their wages or compensating their real club in some sort of way. If loan deals were to end, then United would definitely be effected by it, as well.

Last season, Welbeck was outstanding for Sunderland and he was, without question, the best player for them in their 3-0 win over Chelsea, who finished runners-up to United. Was that fair? Yes, but no. Nobody could’ve predicted that a young 20-year old to absolutely pants John Terry and Chelsea’s defense at that point of the season, but he did. Fortunately for United, Welbeck couldn’t suit up against them – even though he may have been injured at the time – and United cruised to a 2-0 win and won the title.

Now it will be interesting to see how Tottenham play – without Adebayor – against City this coming weekend, because at the beginning of the season they were convincingly beaten by them 5-1 back at the beginning of the season. As Lovejoy pointed out, Spurs were undone by an on-loan player from their most-hated rival – Arsenal and Emmanuel Frimpong – as Wolverhampton stole a vital point off them last weekend.

Let’s just hope that a Manchester City player – who doesn’t wish to play for them – doesn’t dictate whether the title ends up at Old Trafford or not.

To read Tim Lovejoy’s article, click here.

At the beginning of the January transfer window, Federico Macheda was loaned to Queens Park Rangers in attempt to get him more first-team football.

Macheda has only played 165 minutes in five games

However, the Manchester United striker has only started two of his four appearances – both in the FA Cup – and an unsuspecting managerial change saw Mark Hughes take over for Neil Warnock which could change the promises in place.

The former Red, now well-traveled manager, has came out and said that he will be searching for a striker, which means Kiko could be on the outside looking in – even at Loftus Road.

The 20-year old faced the same sort of thing in last year’s six-month loan deal at Sampdoria and to prevent his career from being stop-start again, Ferguson needs to speak with his agent about another club. Macheda rose to superstardom at the tender age of 17, with back-to-back, very vital match-winning goals that helped United secure the title that season.

Against okay opposition, in his four appearances for the R’s, Kiko has been a bit disappointing, because he has picked up more yellow cards – one – than he has shots on goal, which is why there are concerns over his ability to adapt under a different manager.

After losing 1-0 at Newcastle, Hughes said, “It’s important we improve our goals column, that is hindering us.” However, Macheda returned to the starting XI against MK Dons, but he was subbed off for a midfielder when the game was still goalless.

Right now, and besides Macheda, the Hoops have five other attackers – Jay Bothroyd, DJ Campbell, Heidar Helguson, Robert Hulse and Jamie Mackie – and are on the verge of signing U-20 Brazilian striker Henrique.

If Macheda isn’t going to get the minutes he yearns for during this loan spell, then why not recall him and send him to a place where he will? Makes perfect sense – unless Ferguson has already given up on him being a long-term United player.

The manager has said that he wants to keep Kiko, but there comes a point when the player needs to decide for himself if Old Trafford is the right place for him. Of course, that’s done without an agent in the ear and dollar signs in his eyes – and that’s very rare these days!

There should be no questioning Federico Macheda’s ability to make it at Manchester United, it comes down to the fact of him getting ample enough match-time for him to grow as a player – he’s not going to get that at Queens Park Rangers under Mark Hughes.