Carlisle United may have bittersweet protection from AFC Bournemouth January heartbreak | OneFootball

As the old football saying goes, don't fall in love with a loanee.

For years, Carlisle United supporters have been crying out for some better loanees to join the club. This season they have finally got some.

These temporary signings can be so influential on a team's season. To have that burst of ability added into a League Two side, albeit coming with less experience than other signings, can be such a boost for many teams at this level.

In Daniel Adu-Adjei, 19, and Dominic Sadi, 21, the Cumbrians finally have what they have been looking for in the loan market for the past few years.

The two deals were helpfully facilitated by the common ground shared by Carlisle's American chairman, Tom Piatak, and AFC Bournemouth's American owner, Bill Foley. Both men went to the West Point US Military Academy and are now involved in English football, so there was some common ground.

Thankfully this connection was there, because United supporters have now been gifted with the chance to watch these two friends blossom in front of their eyes. You can see the relationship and understanding that the two of them have together on the pitch.

They look more than capable of helping to drag the Blues up from the foot of the League Two table and into a much more comfortable position, if they see out the full duration of their scheduled stays with the club.

That remains somewhat of a question. Chances are that Bournemouth will have a January recall clause in both deals so that they can bring either player back down south or so that they can send them somewhere else, if they want to.

There is one factor which, in a bittersweet way, may help Carlisle's chances of holding onto Adu-Adjei and Sadi.

Carlisle United's bittersweet Daniel Adu-Adjei & Dominic Sadi January hopes

If you were a higher-ranked team than Carlisle and were looking to poach some young talent but hadn't watched either player this season, and just purely looked at the black and white of their statistics, they wouldn't necessarily leap out to you as promising players.

Between them they have registered five direct goal contributions in a combined 22 appearances - not exactly world-beating stuff.

Carlisle would, of course, like that output to be improved. However, because the numbers don't really jump off the page at you, there's a better chance that sides from higher divisions won't look to these two as potential options to poach away from the Blues in the January window.

More goals and assists will come the Bournemouth loanees' way

It's to be expected that neither Adu-Adjei nor Sadi, at their tender age, are the finished products. They are going to produce some questionable and/or frustrating moments at times, but that's why they are out on loan: to learn and develop.

Carlisle's most recent match - a 0-0 draw with Doncaster Rovers - saw both loanees play a big part in creating/being on the end of a multitude of chances. Unfortunately neither were able to find the finishing touches to put the Blues ahead. Putting that to one side, there were so many encouraging moments that led up to those opportunities.

Adu-Ajei has the physical strength to battle with League Two defenders, and then the pace to get in behind them. Sadi's technical ability allows him to dance past players, and his vision and creativity when passing is wonderful.

These qualities will only lead to more goal involvements for them both; it almost feels inevitable.