Major League Soccer vice-president Todd Durbin believes loan signings are great for clubs in the competition as it assists with easing salary cap issues. Relating to the long-term loan signings of David Ferreira of FC Dallas and Marco Pappas at Chicago Fire, Durbin says it is a great way for MLS clubs to have quality players throughout their squad, which helps improve the standard of the competition whilst keeping salaries down.

"One of the things very important to us is with our policies in place we allow our teams to get the best possible players on the field," Durbin told SoccerAmerica.com. "Allowing teams to having players on loan helps our teams do that within the confines of our salary budget.

"Part of the dynamic and part of the process of getting a player on loan, is you negotiate a transfer price at the end of the loan period. What the league and the team need to be thinking about is if the player becomes the player we hope he's going to be while on loan, is that we have the opportunity to bring him back with the transfer. That involves managing allocation money and your salary budget in the out years."

But not every loan deal is as clear cut with some falling over during the tenure whilst others have to add options on and include potential salaries down the track - which sometimes can cause confusion.

"In some situations, you would have a loan until the end of the season with an option for 2010," added Durbin. "[That] option might be for a further loan, with the option for a permanent transfer after that 12 months.

"Another way the deal could be structured is a loan for six months, with an option for a permanent transfer at the end of the year.

"It's a complicated issue. Clearly, our object is to make sure we have the best possible product on the field. When we try to put our competition rules together, that's our goal is to ensure that our level of play is increasing each year."