I'd rather pitch in a youth prospect of our own ahead of a loanee 'prospect' like Monakana (he was 20/21 when he was here).
I don't agree with your last sentence, it's all circumstantial. McKenna by all accounts bombed at Ayr and, if we'd released him instead of him being chucked in, we'd probably all say 'well it was the right decision as he couldn't even do it for Ayr'. Fast forward 6 months and he's a Scotland international. I'm not saying that any of the players we've let go would've been Scotland class, but I'm sure some of them could've made an impact. More so than some of the dross we've loaned in anyway.