I think we’re just used to more traditional loans in this country. Send X player out on loan, he does well, he comes back next season into first team.
This definitely has a Monchi feel to it. The Spanish seem to do this quite a bit, particularly Real Madrid. They sell their Castilla players and have buy back clauses in them, they do well they come back, they do bad, they don’t.
Casemiro and Carvajal both experienced this, and both went on to be Madrid legends.
AJ won’t be the last youth player we see this with.