Doncaster Rovers Braced For Exits As Transfer Window Approaches

Doncaster Rovers are preparing for January upheaval after Grant McCann confirmed that four loan players will leave the club in the coming weeks.

For clubs operating in the middle and lower reaches of the division, the loan market can be both a lifeline and a risk, and Doncaster are now facing the latter as they look to reset ahead of the second half of the campaign.

The most significant departure is defender Connor O’Riordan, who has been recalled by Blackburn Rovers and will leave after the fixture against Luton Town. O’Riordan has been a mainstay since arriving in the summer, making 23 appearances, 21 of them starts, and McCann was clear that his return north is evidence of a loan that has worked exactly as intended.

“Connor has been outstanding. The remit for loans is for a player to help us and help himself. There is always the possibility that if it goes well then he’ll be recalled and that’s been the case with Connor.

“I fully expect him to go back and be in Blackburn’s team. That tells me the loan has been successful.”

Two younger loanees will also depart, with midfielder Charlie Crew heading back to Leeds United, and winger Damola Ajayi returning to Tottenham Hotspur. McCann acknowledged that minutes have been hard to come by for both, something that is often unavoidable when young players arrive in competitive League One squads.

“The two young lads, they need to play football and they probably haven’t played the amount of football they feel they need. Our remit here is to let them go and play and we’ll look to replace.”

Crew, who had previously played a key role in Doncaster’s League Two title run, struggled to build rhythm this time around, with international breaks disrupting his momentum.

“Charlie has been stop-start and the international breaks haven’t helped him, going away two or three times. He probably hasn’t got to the levels that I thought he would do and that he showed last year.”

Striker Toyosi Olusanya will also leave when his loan from Houston Dynamo expires in early January. His time at the club was shaped by timing and fitness, arriving when Billy Sharp was scoring freely before suffering an injury of his own.

“Toyosi, if he’d have started a few of the games when he first came in, we’d have seen a different side of him. At that point Billy [Sharp] was scoring goals and doing well. But Toyosi then picked up his injury and he struggled to come back from that.”

Rovers have slipped into the bottom four after a strong start, and now look braced for a relegation battle over the second half of the season. They’ve lost four on the spin, conceding 12 goals in the process, and are seven points clear of bottom side Port Vale.