12 European Clubs with the Most Players out on Loan

Their policy of sending huge numbers of players on loan has seen Parma and Chelsea under the microscope in recent seasons, but which other clubs farm out the most talent across Europe?

In this slideshow, we take a look at 12 such sides.

Loans can be arranged for a variety of reasons—to give experience and much-needed game time to young players and to build fitness and help those coming back from injury. Loans are also used to make money or to stockpile talent, with clubs safe in the knowledge that squad number limitations and financial fair play restrictions can be sidestepped by the use of the system.

While not an exhaustive list, over the following pages we take a look at 12 examples of European teams who have shipped the most players out in 2014/15. 

Arranged from 12-1, the club with the most players on loan comes in at No. 1.

AS Monaco currently have 14 players who are out on loan—by far the largest amount of players in Ligue 1 for the 2014/15 season.

Stade Rennais would be next with seven players loaned out from Route de Lorient, whereas Paris Saint-Germain have five players playing elsewhere this term, in Alphonse Areola (Bastia), Youssouf Sabaly (Evian), Jordan Ikoko (Le Havre), Hervin Ongenda (Bastia) and Romain Habran (Sochaux).

Key on-loan Monaco Players:

Falcao: The 29-year-old is the biggest name to depart Stade Louis II on loan. On summer transfer deadline day 2014, he signed a season-long deal with Manchester United worth £6 million, as seen on BBC Sport.  

Lucas Ocampos: Switched to Olympique de Marseille during the 2015 winter transfer window, where he will stay until the end of the current campaign.

Marcel Tisserand: The 22-year-old centre-back is on loan with Toulouse until June 2015.

Delvin N'Dinga: The 26-year-old is on his second spell with Olympiakos, after signing for Monaco from Auxerre in 2012.

Atletico Madrid currently have 15 players parked at other sides across Europe—no other club in La Liga has more. 

Real Madrid have just two players out on loan in Casemiro (FC Porto) and Denis Cheryshev (Villarreal). Barcelona have five in Alex Song (West Ham United), Denis Suarez (Sevilla), Ibrahim Afellay (Olympiakos), Cristian Tello (Porto) and Gerard Deulofeu (Sevilla).

Granada CF are the closest with a total of 12 players loaned out from Los Carmenes in 2014/15.

Key on-loan Atletico Madrid Players:

Alessio Cerci: On a long-term deal at AC Milan that will run until June 2016.

Oliver Torres: The young attacking midfielder will be at Porto's Estadio do Dragao until the end of the 2014/15 season.

Toby Alderweireld: Currently with Premier League side Southampton.

Josuha Guilavogui: On loan with VfL Wolfsburg until June 2016.

Javier Manquillo: The 20-year-old is at Liverpool, on a loan that is set to end in June 2016.

Leo Baptistao: The Brazilian striker is enjoying a season-long stay at Rayo Vallecano, where he has scored seven times in La Liga this term. 

Besiktas, the 13-time Turkish Super Lig winners, currently have 15 players out on loan—two more than reigning league champions Fenerbahce and almost double Galatasaray's number, with nine.

Each and every one of Besiktas' out-on-loan players are playing in Turkey and have not been sent further afield. With no long-term deals, another thing they have in common is that they will all return to their parent club upon the season's end. Just one of these players does not have Turkish ancestry, 31-year-old Slovakian winger Filip Holosko.

Slaven Bilic's side have just two players on loan at the Ataturk Stadium in 2014/15, in Porto's Daniel Opare and Metalist Kharkiv midfielder Jose Sosa.

Key on-loan Besiktas Players:

Sinan Kurumus: On a season-long loan with Tepecikspor, the 20-year-old striker has averaged a goal every other game for the side in the 2.Lig Kirmizi.

Furkan Yaman: On loan from January-June 2015, the teenager is getting much-needed game time with Menemen Belediyespor.

Hasan Turk: On loan with Kirklarelispor until the end of the season, Turk has been a regular starter for Hamit Yuksel's side.

Omer Sismanoglu: The 25-year-old's loan with Eskisehirspor has seen him chalk up 14 games, four goals and three assists in the Super Lig this season. 

Sporting Clube de Portugal currently have 18 players on loan—eight playing in Portugal, three in Spain, two in the Eredivisie, two in the English Championship, one in Serie A, one in the Romanian Liga 1 and one in the Turkish Super Lig. 

The Lisbon club are some way ahead of the Primeira Liga's other top teams in terms of players on loan, with Benfica and Porto each with 13 players temporarily housed at other sides across Europe.

Marco Silva's side have two players on loan at Estadio Jose Alvalade this term, in Manchester United's Nani and Anzhi Makhachkala's Ewerton.

Key on-loan Sporting Players:

Heldon: The Cape Verde winger is with La Liga side Cordoba until the end of the season.

Zakaria Labyad: The former PSV Eindhoven man has clocked up 21 appearances and five goals in the Eredivisie with Vitesse Arnhem this term. He has been on loan since January 2014.

Valentin Viola: The Argentinian striker is on loan with Kardemir Karabukspor until June 2015.

Mauricio: The 26-year-old centre-back is plying his trade in Serie A with Lazio, the Italian side have an option to buy at the end of the season.

Betinho: At Brentford's Griffin Park until the end of the 2014/15 campaign, the Portuguese striker came up through the ranks at Sporting.

Simeon Slavchev: The 21-year-old Bulgaria international is on loan with Bolton Wanderers from February-June 2015.

It will come as no surprise to learn that Chelsea are the Premier League leaders when it comes to loaning out players.

Jose Mourinho's side garnered many column inches earlier this season when it was revealed that the Blues had 26 players stationed at a variety of clubs across Europe and even in Chile, in the case of 19-year-old Cristian Cuevas.

As Owen Gibson wrote in the Guardian last September, "The expansive way in which Chelsea have taken advantage of the non-existent rules governing the international loan system has raised new questions about what has become football’s equivalent of the Wild West."

No team comes close to Chelsea's working of the loan system in the English top flight. If there was a league table for loans, Manchester City would be in second with 15.

A full list of the Blues' on-loan players can be seen here on the club's official website.

Key on-loan Chelsea Players:

Mohamed Salah: The 22-year-old Egyptian is on loan with Fiorentina from February-June 2015.

Patrick Bamford, Kenneth Omeruo and Tomas Kalas: The three 21-year-old's are all on loan with Championship side Middlesbrough.

Wallace, John McEachran and Bertrand Traore: This Chelsea trio all ply their trade with Vitesse Arnhem.

Marco van Ginkel: On loan with AC Milan until June 2015.

Nathaniel Chalobah: The 20-year-old is on his fifth loan spell, this time with Reading, since 2012.

Victor Moses: On loan at Stoke City until June 2015.  

They may be nowhere near Parma or Juventus' loan numbers (we'll come to them later) but AC Milan still have a hearty number of players on loan outside of San Siro.

With co-ownership of players set to be banned in Serie A in summer 2015, Milan have just one player that falls into this category in Simone Verdi—co-owned by Torino, he is on loan at Empoli.

In Salvatore Bocchetti (Spartak Moscow), Luca Antonelli (Genoa), Pablo Armero (Udinese), Marco van Ginkel (Chelsea), Alessio Cerci (Atletico Madrid) and Mattia Destro (AS Roma), the Rossoneri have six players on loan. They have 31 farmed out elsewhere.

Key on-loan AC Milan Players:

Fernando Torres: The striker returned to boyhood club Atletico Madrid in January. He will remain at Vicente Calderon until summer 2016.

Antonio Nocerino: On his third loan spell since signing for Milan in 2011, the veteran midfielder is at Parma until the end of the season. 

Valter Birsa: The 28-year-old has been a regular starter for Rolando Maran's Chievo Verona in 2014/15, where he will stay until June.

Robinho: The Brazilian is on a season-long loan at Santos, the club where his career began.

M'Baye Niang: The young striker signed for Milan in summer 2014 and was loaned out to Genoa in January. He'll be there until June 2015.   

Udinese's scouting network reaches far and wide, and the Serie A side are masters of bringing in young talent, nurturing it and selling it on for a healthy profit.

In order to accommodate continuing new arrivals, develop existing talent and to boost the club's income through loan fees, a number of players are sent out each season, with 33 exiting Stadio Friuli throughout the 2014/15 campaign.

Key on-loan Udinese Players:

Matej Vydra: On a season-long loan deal with Championship side Watford, the Czech striker has been in the Hornets' starting XI on 25 occasions in the league so far this term.

Naldo: The Brazilian centre-back has appeared 22 times for Getafe in La Liga this season. 

Pablo Armero: The 28-year-old Colombian is on loan at AC Milan until June 2015. 

Allan Nyom: The Cameroon international is a regular face in Granada's lineup this season. It's his second spell with the La Liga side.

Roberto Pereyra: Signed by Udinese in 2011, the 24-year-old midfielder is on a season-long loan with Serie A leaders Juventus. 

Nico Lopez: The Uruguayan youngster is having a strong season with Hellas Verona where, in eight starts, he has scored five Serie A goals.  

They may have less players on loan than the up-coming Atalanta and Chievo Verona, but nevertheless, Inter Milan's list of loaned-out players makes for fairly lengthy reading.

Roberto Mancini's side have 40 names on the books who are currently playing elsewhere, from Italy, to Spain, England and even as far as Argentina. 

Inter even have 10 players at one club—Pro League side Prato, with whom the Nerazzurri have a loan collaboration, as reported by Tuttomercatoweb.com (h/t Forza Italian Football).

Key on-loan Inter Milan Players:

Saphir Taider: The Algeria international is on a season-long loan spell with Sassuolo. 

Matias Silvestre: On loan with Sampdoria until the end of the season, the centre-back has turned in 18 Serie A performances for Samp in 2014/15.

Lukas Spendlhofer: On loan with Austrian Bundesliga side Sturm Graz, Spendlhofer will remain at UPC-Arena until June 2015.

Alvaro Pereira: Signed by Inter in 2012, Pereira is on his second loan away from San Siro, this time to Estudiantes until December 2015.

Ricky Alvarez: The midfielder will stay in the Premier League with Sunderland until June 2015.

Tidjane Balde: The 18-year-old winger can presently be found playing for Cardiff City's under-21s. 

With a first-team squad composed of 29 players, Serie A side Atalanta have a further 45 names out on loan.

Of these players, 27 are aged 21 or under and 41 of them are plying their trade at various clubs in Italy, be it in Serie A, Serie B or the Italian Pro League.

In the case of Michele Canini, he has been sent further afield to FC Tokyo, Nana Welbeck plays in Slovenia with NK Krka, Ruben Bentancourt is back in his home country of Uruguay with Defensor Sporting Club and Parisian defender Prince Gouano currently plays with Rio Ave in Portugal's Primeira Liga.

On loan with Atalanta are seven names, including former Manchester City man Rolando Bianchi and his Bologna team-mate Nicolo Cherubin, plus Juventus youngsters Lorenzo Rosseti and Richmond Boakye.

Key on-loan Atalanta Players:

Daniele Capelli: The 28-year-old centre-back has been on loan with AC Cesena since August 2013. His spell at Stadio Dino Manuzzi will end in June.

Guido Marilungo: On loan at Cesena for the rest of the season, the 25-year-old has over 30 appearances with Domenico Di Carlo's side. 

Riccardo Cazzola, Luigi Giorgi and Constantin Nica: Yet more Atalanta players temporarily playing for Cesena—Cazzola, Giorgi and Nica are on season-long loans.

Davide Brivio: On loan with Hellas Verona until June 2015. 

Slightly ahead of Atalanta in both league position and by amount of players out on loan, Chievo Verona have 46 players who are currently at other clubs.

There are no less than four goalkeepers, five centre-backs, five left-backs, three right-backs, nine central midfielders and seven strikers included in their numbers.

Helping other Serie A sides to boost their respective loan counts, Chievo also have 10 players on short-term deals at Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi, including four from Inter Milan, two from Genoa, and one apiece from Juventus, Parma and AC Milan with the last—Ervin Zukanovic—on loan from Belgian side KAA Gent.

Rolando Maran's side also have co-ownership of two other players, Bari's Marco Calderoni and Venezia's Salvatore Gallo.

Key on-loan Chievo Players:

Dejan Lazarevic: The Slovenian winger has clocked up 12 outings in Serie A with Sassuolo. He has been with I Neroverdi since February and his loan will end in June.

Ivan Provedel: The 20-year-old goalkeeper is getting a lot of game time in Serie B with Perugia, where he will stay until the end of the 2014/15 season. 

Marcos De Paula (Messina), Diego Farias (Cagliari), Victor da Silva (Brescia), Edimar (Cordoba) and Marcos Miranda (Istra 1961 II): Five Brazilians owned by Chievo who will be playing the rest of the current campaign at other clubs.

Ansoumana Sane (Piacenza), Maodo Malick Mbaye (Carpi), N'Diaye Djiby (Benevento) and Yves Baraye (Torres): Four players of Senegalese descent plying their trade away from Chievo this term. 

As you can see on Juventus' official website, the Old Lady have 64 players who are either on loan and/or are co-owned by Juve and another Italian side.

By Transfermarkt.com's reckoning, Juve have 30 players aged 21 or younger who are currently getting first-team experience elsewhere. 

On loan at Massimiliano Allegri's side this term are just three names—Udinese's Roberto Pereyra, Hellas Verona's Romulo and AC Milan's Alessandro Matri.

Key on-loan Juventus Players:

Carlo Pinsoglio: On loan with Serie B side Modena, the Italian goalkeeper has received plenty of game time and can boast the second-lowest goals-conceded rate in the division. 

Edoardo Ceria: The 19-year-old has clocked up 25 appearances in the Netherland's Jupiler League with FC Den Bosch.

Richmond Boakye: A regular face in the Atalanta starting XI, the Ghanaian striker has 18 Serie A outings to his name in 2014/15.

Stefano Beltrame, Andrea Schiavone: Two 22-year-old's with 42 Serie B performances between them this season.

Mauricio Isla: The Chilean is on loan with Queens Park Rangers until June 2015. 

Fausto Rossi: The 24-year-old has been getting experience in La Liga with Cordoba this term.

There are conflicting reports on exactly how many players Parma currently have out on loan, but it's clear that the struggling Serie A side are in a (worrying) league of their own when it comes to the number of names on the books at Stadio Ennio Tardini.

In September 2013, Martin Samuel wrote in the Daily Mail, "In all, there are 226 players listed as playing for, or having affiliation to, Parma. And this does not include the academy."

During the club's recent turmoil in Serie A, James Horncastle wrote on ESPNFC, "Scrutiny has fallen on 221 players who were listed as playing or affiliated with Parma at one stage: 30 in the first team, 109 out on loan, 16 at third division Gubbio, 22 at NK Gorica and 44 co-owned with other clubs."

A look at the Parma Wikipedia page, when compared with their numbers on Transfermarkt, points to a team consisting of 140 players, be they in the first-team squad, under co-ownership, on loan or simply classified as "under contract," yet without a club. Even now this number does not take youth or reserve team players into account.

It is a staggering figure for a team said to have gross debt of €197 million euros—a figure that has risen 1131 percent in the last seven years (h/t Horncastle on ESPN).

Key on-loan Parma Players:

Gianni Munari and Daniel Tozser: Both central midfielders are on loan with Championship side Watford. They are two of 14 players in their position on loan from the club.

Matteo Pisseri (Juve Stabia) and Nicola Ravaglia (Cosenza): Are just two of eight goalkeepers currently out on loan from Parma. A further three are under co-ownership.

Carlos Garcia, Matteo Bellucci and Daniele Gragnoli: Three examples from a list of 20 players that are mysteriously listed as "under contract" on Wikipedia at Parma, yet do not fall into any other club, loan or co-ownership category.

All loan and player info comes from information available across official club websites and Transfermarkt.com, unless stated otherwise.