Mat Sadler underlines Walsall's 'pride' over approach to the loan market

Charlton Athletic frontman Daniel Kanu became the latest loan signing last week, after Blackpool midfielder Ryan Finnigan arrived earlier in the week. 

Watford goalkeeper Myles Roberts and Derby County centre-back Dan Cox will also be spending the 2025-26 season at Bescot. 

Meanwhile, Jonny Stuttle had to have his season long-loan terminated by AFC Bournemouth, after suffering an ACL injury in the 1-0 home defeat against Grimsby Town. 

Mat Sadler: "We pride ourselves" on developing loan talent

Sadler acknowledged that his relationship with his former Birmingham City boss Steve Bruce helped in Finnigan's case, but stressed that Walsall's reputation for helping players develop was the deciding factor. 

"Steve obviously helped. With ourselves, they wanted to make sure that Ryan went somewhere that they believed could help develop him," Sadler said.

"I know that they've done their work on us. Of course, I've known Steve for years but he doesn't necessarily know me as a manager. 

"So they've done their work on what we're like with young players and they didn't have to look too far because we've had some very successful ones. 

"We look after players when they come in and that's something which we pride ourselves on. There was definitely an element of my relationship [with Bruce] and then hopefully there was also a consideration of what we've done with young players. 

"Although that's not always easy to see in terms of pitch time and game time, we still look after them in the right way and do our best by everyone in the building."

Walsall have had a number of loan success during Sadler's reign, including Tommy Simkin, Emmanuel Adegboyega, David Okagbue, Freddie Draper and Nathan Lowe. 

The latter scored 18 goals and set-up seven more in 30 appearances on loan from Stoke City during the first half of last season prior to his recall in January.