Sink or swim. That seems to be the rationale behind most loan deals that the big clubs set up for their players. Of course, they do look at the club they’re joining, their style of play and whether the player will get playing minutes. Ultimately, however, what they’re doing is testing the player to see whether he is good enough or not.

Yet loan deals are increasingly serving another purpose: that of putting young players in the shop window. Whereas before many used to be let go on a free after spending a couple of years trying to make headway in the reserves, the fact that they’ve been playing at a reasonable level is more likely to attract buyers or at least add to their value. Rather than being loaned to gain experience, they’re being sent out to be sold.

There’s nothing to indicate that this is the case of Danny Guthrie but a number of clubs seem to think so. Bolton are ready to keep him whilst both Sunderland and Fulham have expressed an interest in him. All of which is indicative of how well his season at Bolton is going.

Everything was set up for Guthrie to fail: a couple of senior players – both of whom played in his position – went public about their unhappiness at how the team was being run, the manager who got him to the club was sacked a few weeks into the season whilst on the pitch the team was struggling.

Yet Guthrie has done anything but fail. He forced his way into the team under Sammy Lee and stayed there once Gary Megson took over. Even with the rest of the team doing poorly, he has played exceptionally well, certainly better than more experienced players. The confidence with which he played in high profile games like that against Bayern Munich – where he was arguably the best player on the field – and Manchester United was certainly eye-catching.

In short, he’s proven that he’s good enough to play in the Premier League. The question is: can he play for Liverpool?

Nothing other than seeing him play in a red shirt for a number of games can answer that question but looking at what he has done so far, it would certainly seem so.

On those few occasions that he played for Liverpool, he seemed comfortable despite being out of position on the right. Then he went to Southampton for the second half of last season and promptly became a key player for them in the centre of the pitch as they surged to the play-offs. Now he’s gone to Bolton where he’s forced himself into the team.

In short, every time’s been asked to play at a higher level he’s done so with relative ease. Were he to play for Liverpool, there’s every probability that the same would happen.

The other major issue revolves around the competition that he would face to get a game at Liverpool. Even with the departure of Momo Sissoko, he would still be up against Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano, Steven Gerrard and Lucas Leiva. But again, the same argument holds. There was the feeling that Guthrie was going to be wasted at Bolton given the presence of Kevin Nolan, Gary Speed and Ivan Campo but he has still managed to find his space.

Given half a chance, he would do so at Anfield as well.