Loan Report: Rough Week For Vito Mannone

It’s quick report this week as Reading’s loanees around the world are now just two players: Vito Mannone and Sone Aluko, who are in the USA and China respectively. in th

It’s been a torrid time for Vito Mannone over in the MLS this past week as his Minnesota United side suffered two defeats in a matter of days. The first was a crushing 3-0 defeat away to defending champions Atlanta United, when Franco Escobar and Josef Martinez (x) were the scorers.

The game remained 1-0 for a long time with the feeling that Minnesota could steal a point getting stronger as time went on, but two goals in injury time from Martinez sealed the victory for the hosts.

However, the second defeat in the last week for Minnesota will be much harder to deal with as, in a game they dominated, they were on the end of a 3-2 defeat at home to Philadelphia Union. The Loons came back from behind twice but an 86th-minute winner from the visitors confirmed it would be a miserable week at Allianz Field and Vito Mannone.

One conceded goal was particularly frustrating for Mannone, who should have done better with this free kick:

There has been some joy for Sone Aluko on the other side of the world though. Similarly to Mannone, the midweek fixture for Renhe in the Chinese FA Cup ended in defeat, with the visitors being demolished 5-0 by Guangzhou Evergrande - although Aluko did not play in this game.

However, the Chinese Super League proved more fruitful for the struggling side from the capital as they beat Tianjin Quanjian 2-0. Sone was substituted in injury time at the end of the game, as this result sees the side move up to 12th in the Super League, their highest position of the season to date.

Aluko has now played 12 times for Renhe and scored three goals - the same number of strikes as in a Reading shirt, but in 1/5 of the matches.