Well, yes, but that then ignores the wishes of the player and his agent. Would he rather stay around and about the first team, hopefully impressing Carlo and other training staff, than go to a club that everyone agrees is below his level and risk an injury playing on inferior pitches with inferior players and in inferior training conditions. What does it say about his future potential if, for example, he goes to a relegation-threatened Wigan Athletic and then picks up a niggle and/or doesn't fit into a new manager's plans?
League One and Two loans do have their place, as we have seen with plenty of young players (Ledson, Bidwell, Connolly, etc.), but they are possibly more of an indicator that the player has a future in the professional game, rather than a future at EFC.
A loan at this stage to that level would probably be an insult to Branthwaite (already proved himself at that level), Nkounkou (possibly given certain assurances when he came here) and Gordon (already played decently in PL).
Gibson, for whatever reason, is probably headed down the road of players such as Ledson mentioned above.
And Simms, not sure about a loan at that level (or him in general). Could be make or break. Certainly he appeared utterly disinterested in the second half of the recent academy match.
